Editorial
Contract dispute even more pointless now

Word that the state may begin its school year with a substantial shortage of teachers is yet another reason — and a good one — why it is time to settle an increasingly pointless stalemate over teacher professional bonuses.

At this point, the issue of who is right and who is wrong in this arcane struggle over contract language and expectations is almost beside the point.

The dispute is clearly a contributing factor to the state's difficulty in recruiting new teachers to fill its classrooms.

In the large scheme of themes, the shortage (now estimated at around 300 slots) is not particularly severe. The state routinely has to refill between 1,400 to 1,500 vacancies a year because of retirements and other departures.

Last year, the shortfall was 164 teaching positions.

Still those are 300 classrooms that will be greeted with substitutes or part-time teachers if the Department of Education cannot meet its recruiting goals.

Despite the lure of the Islands, recruiting from the Mainland has never been easy for the DOE. Our salary levels — particularly when placed against Hawai'i's cost of living and the expense of moving — make it a tough sell.

But it is doubly difficult if the DOE has to recruit in the face of a contract stalemate and a governor who appears determined to stand up to the teachers' union. What right-minded person would want to move across the ocean under those conditions?

It is time for Gov. Cayetano and the administration of our school system to recognize that the best thing they can do now for our schools and our children is to settle the contract dispute and get our schools back on track.

Yes, giving professional "bonuses" for two years rather than one will be expensive. And yes, that may not have been what management negotiators intended when the worked out their deal with the union.

But it is what the contract says. And it is the best way — and the right way — to put teachers into the classroom where our children are waiting.