Hawaii public school teachers voted today to ratify a new contract that will result in a 7.94 percent pay cut.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association announced that the vote was 81.1 percent in favor and 17 percent against. The remaining 1.9 percent of the votes are absentee ballots that have yet to be counted.

About 75 percent of the union's 13,500 members voted, officials said.

Hawaii’s public school year will have 17 fewer instructional days under the two-year contract.

The state is trying to ride out a slow economy and reduced the amount of money going to education. The school board then negotiated the contract trying to balance its budget.