Subs lukewarm
on raises

Lawyers for teachers intend
to pursue a suit for back pay

Public-school substitute teachers will get raises of up to 25 percent under a new pay structure that won tentative approval from state legislators yesterday.

However, the pay increases fall short of the demands of substitutes who have brought class-action lawsuits against the state for underpayment.

"Well, it's a beginning, but we still think pay should be quite a bit higher," said substitute teacher Daniel DeCarlo.

The new arrangement changes the current single-scale structure for substitutes to a three-tier model.

Substitute teachers without bachelor's degrees will be paid $119.80 per day, a 6 percent increase. Those with a bachelor's will earn $130 per day, up 15 percent, and "licensed or highly qualified" teachers will earn $140 per day, a 24 percent increase.

"Highly qualified" refers to teachers specifically trained in the subject they teach.

"We believe different categories of substitute teachers deserved different levels of compensation, just like regular teachers," said Rep. Roy Takumi (D, Pearl City-Pacific Palisades), chairman of the House Education Committee.

Currently, all substitutes earn a flat per diem of $112.53 following a pay cut in January from the previous $119.80.

Substitute teachers are suing the state for about $20 million in back pay, claiming the Department of Education has violated state law by not following a 1996 statute tying substitute pay to that of a certain class of full-time teacher.

The suit says substitutes should be receiving about $146 per day now.

Paul Alston, attorney for the substitutes, called the Legislature's move "bittersweet" but added that it would not stop the lawsuits.

The legislation does not provide for future pay increases, but appears intended as a stopgap measure until the next legislative session.

Amid tight funds, the Legislature appropriated only $500,000 for each of the next two years for the raises. The actual cost is about $3.6 million per year.

Assistant Schools Superintendent Gerald Okamoto said the remaining funds will have to come out of other Department of Education programs. "We're going to have to find it somewhere, somehow," he said.

Okamoto also said the additional cost will force the department to look at reducing the amount of work for substitutes.

"Ultimately, the goal would be a reduction in the use of substitute teachers," he said.