Teachers win
10% raises

The contract, which will cost
the state an extra $93 million,
must still be ratified

Hawaii's public-school teachers will get raises averaging about 10 percent over the next two years under a tentative contract that will cost the state an additional $93 million.

Proposed deal The new public-school teachers' contract: » Increases salaries an average of 9.56 percent. » Establishes a committee to identify solutions to the growing work pressures on teachers. » Sets a formula for state contributions to a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Trust, an alternative to the current health plan. » Establishes Admission Day as a paid teacher holiday.

The pay increases will boost the state's entry-level salary to about $39,900 from about $36,800 in the 2006-07 school year, an increase of 8.4 percent, according to contract documents delivered to teachers yesterday.

Top-scale teachers would receive a raise of about 9.5 percent, to about $73,200 in the 2006-07 year from about $66,800.

"This is definitely what we were hoping to see. They're moving in the right direction," said Brian Okada, a teacher and head of the math department at Farrington High School.

The draft contract says salaries will increase an average of 9.56 percent.

Union members will vote Thursday on whether to ratify the deal. The union declined comment on the agreement yesterday until the ratification vote.

The state government and the Hawaii State Teachers Association announced Sunday that they had reached a tentative agreement on the two-year contract, which goes into effect July 1.

A significant salary boost has been the top priority of the union, which says salaries are too low to attract and retain quality teachers amid Hawaii's high cost of living and the growing pressure placed on teachers.

The union has put the current teacher shortage at about 200.

Teacher salaries will rise in each of the next two years, with the bulk of the increase coming in the second year.

Some teachers said they remain underpaid even under the new contract.

"I still don't think it's enough," said Tess Antone, a second-grade teacher at Kalihi-Kai School. "Hopefully it will attract more teachers, but with the cost of living and the amount of work we do, it's still not enough."

Throughout the negotiations, the HSTA has complained about the mushrooming paperwork, time demands and other pressures that divert teachers from their core teaching responsibilities.

These stem from increased pressure to monitor student progress and prepare students for the high-stakes standards-based testing that determines whether a school is in compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The act levees sanctions on schools that fail to comply.

The union, however, did not win concessions from the state on this issue. Instead, it won an agreement to establish a committee of teachers, Department of Education officials and Board of Education members to analyze the problem and issue a report by June 30, 2007, the final day of the new contract.

Farrington's Okada said the workload issue will persist as the test-score requirements climb each year and the state moves more toward a curriculum-based on a set of uniform standards.

"Our regular job will be negatively impacted. You can see the writing on the wall," he said.

The salary increases fall short of the HSTA's stated goals.

The union, which represents 13,000 teachers, had asked for 15 percent increases in each of the next two years as part of a push to raise starting teacher salaries to $45,000 per year and average salaries to $60,000 by 2009.

However, the union managed to improve significantly on the state's initial offer of 1.5 percent annual increases.

Currently, salaries average about $44,000 per year, roughly around the national average. However, Hawaii salaries rank near the bottom in the nation when adjusted for cost of living, according to the American Federation of Teachers.