Special session sought for teacher bonus

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

The head of the state's largest public employee union is calling for a special legislative session to pay for bonuses for teachers with advanced degrees.

Russell Okata, executive director of the Hawai'i Government Employees Association, said the Legislature should meet and approve money for the 6,675

public school teachers with master's degrees and professional diplomas. The Department of Education notified the Hawai'i State Teachers Association last week that there is no money to pay for a second year of bonuses that were expected by the teachers.

Okata said it is time for elected officials who say they support education to put their money where their mouths are. The HGEA represents more than 42,000 white-collar state and county employees.

"It's time for Democrats and Republicans to get off the campaign trail and fund the bonus," Okata said. "If they want to prove to the community that education is their top priority, there's no better way than paying those hard-working teachers their overdue bonuses."

The governor has the authority to call a special session. Legislators also could convene a special session if they have the approval of two-thirds of both houses.

Gov. Ben Cayetano already has said the state is facing a shortfall and there isn't any money to pay for the bonuses. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

House Majority Leader Marcus Oshiro said he was not aware of Okata's request, but Oshiro said a special session is "highly unlikely."

"To call a special session right now would be extraordinary," said Oshiro, D-40th (Wahiawa, Whitmore). "Earlier there was a request for a special session on some of the vetoed items and the response there was, no, we'll come back and fix it in the regular session."

He said the same can be done for the bonuses.

The bonus was a key factor in settling last year's three-week strike by the HSTA. Soon after the settlement, however, the state administration and teacher's union disagreed as to whether the bonuses applied to one year or both years of the contract.

The DOE said last week that because of a $32 million budget shortfall, there wouldn't be enough money to pay the estimated $12 million to $13 million to cover the bonuses. An additional $12.7 million in federal impact aid this year will be used to alleviate the shortfall.