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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Saturday, February 16, 2002

Hawai'i schools must fill up to 1,500 teacher slots

House legislation calls for 15 local area school boards

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

Already facing 200 vacancies and with as many as 1,500 projected, Hawai'i educators face an uphill battle in recruiting enough teachers to fill each classroom next year.

State education officials are preparing to recruit next year's batch of new teachers, but they face a number of pressures: a national shortage of teachers, a declining number of education graduates from local universities and a new federal law that requires a "highly qualified" teacher in every classroom by 2005.

The Department of Education next month will start its biggest annual recruiting push, sometimes interviewing as many as 200 college seniors in one day and visiting teacher job fairs in states such as California, Washington, Oregon, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Even with a teachers contract that provides better pay and bonuses for teachers with advanced degrees, Hawai'i officials will have to deal with stiff competition from other states, which often send representatives from their schools here to recruit from the pool of ethnically and racially diverse graduates.

Some other school districts are in better financial shape as well, offering teachers moving expenses, bonuses and student-loan forgiveness as a recruiting tool.

"The teachers know they're in a buyer's market," said Amy Yamashita, personnel specialist with the DOE. "Up to a point Hawai'i's sunshine and aloha will carry us, but only so far. The teachers are very serious and want to go with a school system that provides support and training, especially in their first year."

Recruiting never stops

The number of new teachers hired in the past three years has increased from 1,006 in the 1998-99 school year to 1,454 in 2000-01, according to the DOE's most recent teacher employment report. Even with those new hires, the department is still left with some 200 vacancies that substitutes must fill.

"There's a constant need," said Claudia Chun, a DOE personnel specialist. "We never ever stop recruiting."

The number of teachers with degrees from out-of-state universities also has slowly increased. In the 1995-96 school year, 47.9 percent of newly hired teachers came with out-of-state degrees, while in the 2000-01 school year, 51.5 percent went to schools outside Hawai'i. And while Hawai'i has airport meet-and-greet programs, offers help finding housing and provides mentoring, Chun said those efforts need more money behind them.

Despite the increasing demand for more teachers, the district's total recruiting budget has remained at $100,000 per year.

Chun noted that with 13,000 public school teachers, the 200 substitutes now in classrooms make up only 1.5 percent of the positions. "That's a small percentage, but every classroom matters," she said.

The DOE has halved the number of substitutes in full-time slots since the beginning of the school year. But the state in mid-March will abandon its attempts to fill those 200 spots that are open this school year and instead concentrate on recruiting teachers for the next school year. With some year-round campuses starting their school year in July, there is pressure on the DOE to recruit — and recruit quickly.

Better perks lie elsewhere

The biggest shortage areas are ones that other states also face: special education, math, science, counseling, school librarians and vocational education. The state also needs more Hawaiian language teachers.

"We're really suffering out on the Big Island and Lana'i to get teachers," said Niyati Brown, a special education teacher at Pa'auilo Elementary and Intermediate.

Brown said she is concerned about the high number of teachers expected to retire in the next few years. When teachers consider the quality of their work environment, Hawai'i's pay scale and the lure of other states that provide incentives like laptop computers don't help the DOE's case, she said. "I think the state needs to take recruitment and retention more seriously," she said.

Joan Husted, executive director of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, expects the number of vacancies may grow, although she said that new schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto, a former principal and classroom teacher, will do innovative things to lure and keep teachers in the classroom.

"It will get worse," Husted said. "Sept. 11 will have a chilling effect on Mainland teachers at other school districts and people who have never been to Hawai'i. The geographical location of the Islands is troublesome to people especially in the Midwest and the East Coast. Those are the people who you can often recruit with the promise of sunshine."

Non-education majors sought

The former superintendent made a plea in September for college graduates with or without teaching experience to contact the department and consider entering the classroom. But because the DOE places top priority on moving the experienced, certified or licensed teachers into schools first, department officials doubt that any but a handful of nonteachers made it into Hawai'i classrooms this year.

Randy Hitz, dean of the College of Education at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, said the school is encouraging non-education majors to enter master's degree programs and the one-year post-baccalaureate program, but said schools nationwide have had trouble recruiting students into the education field.

"I think people who used to go into it have other choices now," Hitz said. "Nursing and teaching used to get the very brightest women. It makes it more difficult for us to recruit. We're not doing a good job of attracting men."

UH cuts have ripple effect

UH has graduated fewer education majors the past several years as its budget has been hit by the state's financial woes. As the largest source of teachers for the state, the 10.5 percent decrease in graduates since 1995 has had an impact.

But Hitz said improvements in the education system have made teaching a better career choice.

"Teachers are gaining more autonomy," Hitz said. "Teacher preparation is improving. With national certification there's a chance to get ahead financially without having to leave the profession. There's incentives for advanced degrees. I think it's moving in the right direction."

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.