Ruling helps settle teacher bonus issue
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
With both the teachers union and state officials claiming victory in the 10-month battle over salary bonuses, the two sides prepared to return to the bargaining table on the one contract issue that has eluded agreement.
The Hawai'i Labor Relations Board this week ruled that teachers with advanced degrees are entitled to 3 percent bonuses for only the first year of their two-year contract.
But the board also found that the state has a commitment to provide "some sort" of bonus in the second year, and ordered the teams of negotiators back to the table.
The Hawai'i State Teachers Association called the ruling a "long-awaited victory" because it acknowledges that teachers are due a bonus in the second year, even though it may not reach the 3 percent level that teachers said they ratified.
"Despite all of the rhetoric, we're really quite pleased with the ruling," said HSTA executive director Joan Husted.
Gov. Ben Cayetano, however, called the union's interpretation "nonsense." Cayetano noted that he offered to implement the first year of the contract months ago and negotiate the second-year bonus. The labor board ruling is exactly what the state wanted and had offered before all of the legal action started, he said.
Negotiations over the long-disputed second year of the contract could begin this month. The HSTA has contacted the governor's chief negotiator by letter to set up meetings.
Teachers who are eligible for the bonus should receive the 3 percent that is due to them for the first year of the contract sometime this spring, Husted said. The union yesterday contacted the Department of Education to set up meetings that would determine when and and how to distribute the bonus.
Because personnel records for teachers are not computerized, it could take some time for the department to go through each of 13,000 teacher files by hand to determine who is eligible.
The teachers and the state have been at odds for 10 months over the bonus issue involving teachers with master's degrees and professional diplomas. The dispute delayed payment of an $1,100 retention bonus and other negotiated raises until the governor in September agreed to implement the contract with the exception of the disputed professional bonus.
The number of Hawai'i teachers eligible for the so-called "P-track" bonus has been estimated at 5,000 to 6,400. The estimated cost of the bonus has ranged from $6 million to $10 million a year.
That second-year bonus will come out of excess federal impact aid — not state money, the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board ruled.
Impact aid is federal money that compensates school districts with a large military presence, but can be used at the department's discretion.
The excess aid is the difference between what the state originally expected to receive and what it actually received in federal impact aid — an amount that fluctuates every year.
Husted said that with an increased amount of federal aid coming to Hawai'i through the recently passed Elementary and Secondary Education Act, she hopes the second year of the bonus will reach 3 percent.
"If it's enough to cover 3 percent, it will be 3 percent," she said.
Union officials and members have said they have grown weary of having to resort to legal battles to enforce their contract.
"It's a matter of recruitment and retention," said Niyati Brown, a special education teacher at Pa'auilo Elementary and Intermediate on the Big Island. "We're really suffering out on the Big Island and Lana'i to get teachers, and this doesn't help."
Union attorney Vernon Yu is reviewing the labor relations board ruling to determine if there is anything teachers need to appeal in court.
The union also has filed a grievance with the Department of Education's labor relations department over 19 other items approved in the contract that have not been implemented, among them staff development days and teacher preparation periods.
Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
