DOE delays cutting pay
for substitute teachers
The Department of Education is backing off temporarily from plans to cut the pay of substitute teachers, a move that had triggered an outcry from many substitutes who already feel they are underpaid.
Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto announced yesterday that substitutes will continue to receive the current $119.80 per day rate until Jan. 24, when it will drop to $112.53. The department had told substitutes earlier this month that the rate would fall to $111.41 on Nov. 1.
Officials said the reductions reflect changes in the Hawaii State Teachers Association contract that took effect Oct. 4. That union deal, which gave teachers a raise, does not cover substitute teachers. But a 1996 state law ties their daily pay to job classifications in the teachers' salary schedule, which were altered.
Lara Wilcox, a substitute teacher for Windward schools, said yesterday she was glad the pay cut was delayed, but remains dismayed at the prospect of lower wages.
"I thought we were supposed to be paid in line with the full-time teachers," she said. "Obviously $111 or $112 is not in line. It would be nice to see some kind of incentive to stay with this job. Some of these people should take a step into the classroom and see how difficult it is."
Department spokesman Greg Knudsen said the proposed wages are based on the pay of starting full-time teachers with bachelor's degrees who have not passed a state-approved teacher education program.
"The new substitute teachers' rate of $112.53 in January will be legal and consistent with the 1996 legislation that relates calculation of substitute teachers' pay to the teachers' salary schedule," he said.
The department plans to ask the Legislature to give the Board of Education authority to set the daily pay rate for substitutes and possibly reinstate a tiered schedule that offers higher pay to those with higher qualifications, Knudsen said.
In the mean time, substitute teachers have filed a class-action suit due to be heard again Dec. 6 in Circuit Court, claiming they should be making $150 a day. Paul Alston, attorney for the substitutes, said yesterday that he expects to go to court to block the effort to cut their pay as well.
The department said it decided to postpone the pay reduction until January "due to the administrative difficulties of implementing two rate changes in less than three months." According to the department's calculations, substitute pay was supposed to drop to $111.41 on Oct. 4 and then go up slightly on Jan. 24 to $112.53.
Alston accused the department of taking advantage of substitutes because they are not unionized and "have no voice and no power."
There are 3,900 substitute teachers statewide.
