Senators set aside $250 million for teacher and faculty raises
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Capitol Bureau Chief
State senators approved a draft state budget yesterday that sets aside $250 million for teacher and university faculty raises over the next two years, disregarding objections by Gov. Ben Cayetano that the state doesn't have money for the raises sought by public employees.
The action by the Senate Ways and Means Committee as public school teachers and University of Hawai'i faculty prepared for a strike is another strong sign that legislators believe the state can and should grant raises.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brian Taniguchi said the Senate spending plan for the next two years starting July 1 also sets aside money for raises won in arbitration by members of the Hawai'i Government Employees Association and negotiated raises for United Public Workers members.
The Senate already has approved, and sent to the House, measures that would put up $153 million for raises for HGEA over the next two years, and $27 million for raises for UPW members.
Cayetano has argued for the past two years that the state cannot afford raises as large as what the unions are seeking, while the public employees' unions insist that the state can afford substantial raises.
The contract talks also stalled on issues other than raises, such as administration efforts to tie teacher salaries more to professional development than seniority. The administration also wants to offer larger raises to beginning teachers and to educators who specialize in subjects in shortage areas.
'Enough carryover'
Although lawmakers don't know yet how much a settlement with the teachers and university faculty would actually cost, Taniguchi said "we think we have enough carryover to fund some of the targets we have (for the raises)."
Those targets include about $200 million for the teachers, and about $50 million for university professors, said Taniguchi, D-11th (McCully, Mo'ili'ili, Manoa). With his latest offer last night, Cayetano said he is willing to budget $93 million for teacher raises.
The "carryover" is the cash surplus the state has on hand at the end of the fiscal year. Budget officials now expect a surplus of $330 million when the current fiscal year ends June 30. To help pay for the raises, the Ways and Means Committee also approved a measure yesterday to "raid" some state accounts where money is parked for specific purposes, ranging from driver education to agricultural loans.
Draining those accounts should raise another $80 million "and we should have enough money," Taniguchi said.
Cut in biennial budget
To find money for the raises, Taniguchi said, the committee cut $231 million from Cayetano's proposed budget for the next two years. That total is similar to the $243 million the House cut from Cayetano's two-year budget request.
Sen. Sam Slom, R-8th (Wai'alae Iki, Hawai'i Kai), said that although the Senate draft of the budget spends less than the governor proposed, "it still represents an increase in spending at a time when I don't think we should be doing that."
"The budget is still growing faster than our local economy, which doesn't make any sense," Slom said.
The proposed Senate budget now goes to the full Senate, which is virtually certain to approve it as drafted by Ways and Means. House and Senate members will then meet in conference committee to resolve differences between their drafts of the bill.
Taniguchi said there was no "fluff" in the Cayetano budget, but he said some items clearly were less urgent then others.
Drug treatment loses
Cayetano proposed spending an additional $8.8 million for drug treatment programs. The House cut that to $4.4 million, and Taniguchi said the Senate eliminated the additional drug treatment money entirely.
The governor also proposed spending about $50 million over two years on computer upgrades and improvements for state operations. The House cut that to about $33 million, and the Senate included about half that amount, Taniguchi said.
Cayetano also proposed spending a total of about $30 million for textbooks and new computers in classrooms.
Taniguchi said the Senate draft of the budget would draw the textbook and computer money out of the state's "rainy day" fund, which is financed out of settlement money from the state's lawsuit against tobacco companies.
