DOE warns 28 percent of substitute teachers

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

The state Department of Education, already hard-pressed to put a qualified teacher in every classroom, has notified 1,500 to 1,700 substitutes that they won't be allowed to teach in public schools next year because their qualifications do not meet new federal standards.

DOE spokesman Greg Knudsen said the school system must tighten the requirements because of provisions in the federal law known as the No Child Left Behind Act.

But substitute teachers dispute the DOE's interpretation of the federal law and the timeline issued by DOE. A recent letter from Assistant Superintendent Claudia Chun to substitutes thanked them for their service but said they must meet all requirements and renew their registration by April 22. Substitutes say that gives them no time to finish working on their bachelor's degrees.

With an estimated 1,600 teaching vacancies each year, an increasing reliance on out-of-state recruiting and a national teacher shortage, the loss of that many substitutes will make the DOE's quest for a qualified teacher in every classroom even more difficult. The problem may be particularly acute in the rural and remote areas, where qualified substitute teachers are at a premium.

1,000 on job each day

The DOE has about 13,000 regular schoolteachers but uses an average of 1,000 substitutes per day across the state, according to a DOE memo issued in August 2002.

"How are they going to fill all of these spots that are usually there?" said Makaha resident Kuulei French, a substitute teacher for three years, mostly at Wai'anae High and Intermediate schools.

"I know that subs are utilized so much out here," French said, to the extent that "I have to turn jobs down. If I wanted to, I could work every day. It's going to affect so many schools in this area."

French said she had planned to return to college part time in the fall. Because she does not have a degree, she will not be able to substitute-teach next year under the new guidelines. She said she had been told last year that she would have until 2006 to finish an associate's degree to remain a substitute.

French said she hopes the DOE will reconsider its position.

Knudsen said the department may have to recruit more substitute teachers late this spring if it looks like there will be a major shortfall next year.

Job pool small as is

Hilo substitute teacher David Hudson said he does have a bachelor's degree, but wonders how the DOE would operate its schools without a larger pool of subs. "They have a shortage of qualified classroom teachers already," he said.

Union organizer James Kuroiwa Jr. said he has received panicked e-mails and phone calls since Saturday, when most substitutes received the letter from Chun in the mail.

"The DOE has jumped the gun and eliminated a lot of substitutes," said Kuroiwa, who is with the Laborers' International Union of North America, Local 368, AFL-CIO. "The Neighbor Islands are the ones hardest hit. You're going to have principals who have to end up subbing themselves. You have to have someone supervise the classrooms; otherwise you have to shut down the schools."

Kuroiwa said he hopes to meet with DOE officials or Board of Education members to come up with a solution.

Federal requirement

The No Child Left Behind Act requires that by the 2005-06 school year all teachers must be "highly qualified," which generally means they must be certified and demonstrate mastery of the subject they teach.

Starting this school year, all new teachers hired with federal money are supposed to be highly qualified, according to the law.

Also by the 2005-06 school year, all school paraprofessionals — educational assistants and others who help in the classroom but are not in charge of it — are supposed to have at least two years of college.

Knudsen said the DOE initially had hoped that substitute teachers could qualify as paraprofessionals and would need only an associate's degree by 2006. But because substitutes are put in charge of classrooms and left alone with students, he said, they have to meet the higher requirements.

"We know we have some good people who don't have the four-year degree," he said. "We aren't ignoring the fact that some very qualified and good people could be affected."

But the DOE and the union disagree over whether substitutes are new hires at the beginning of each school year or whether substitutes who have been with the state for years are ongoing employees.

The DOE says the substitutes are new hires and therefore must meet the No Child Left Behind requirements immediately. On the other hand, the union says they are ongoing employees and should have the benefit of the longer time frame, much as classroom teachers do.

This isn't the first skirmish that the public school system and substitutes have had recently. Substitute teachers are trying to form their first labor union and have had several disputes over pay rates in the last year.

30 percent backing needed

The Laborers International Union of North America is trying to organize the more than 5,200 substitute teachers now registered with the DOE and needs at least 30 percent, or about 1,600, of the substitute teachers, to sign an authorization card before it can go to the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board and ask for the issue to be put to a vote.

Legislation for the substitutes' union so far has been moving easily through the House and Senate committees, and organizers hope that the issue could come to a floor vote within a few weeks.

If successful, the effort would give substitute teachers the right to collective bargaining with the state. Hawai'i teachers have been represented since the 1970s by the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, which is precluded by law from also representing the substitutes.

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