Posted on: Thursday, August 26, 2004

Hawai'i schools short 357 teachers

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Education Writer

Hawai'i's public schools had 357 teacher vacancies as the last classes for the new school year started this week.

The Department of Education will continue to hire and likely will bring in substitute teachers to help close the gap.

"It's not ideal," said Greg Knudsen, a DOE spokesman. "But it's not unusual when you're dealing with the tight labor market for teachers in recent years."

Hawai'i has struggled over the past several years to find new teachers as competition for educators among schools nationally has increased.

The number of new hires has ranged from about 1,000 in the 1998-99 school year to more than 1,600 last school year.

The vacancies are a concern to the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, the teachers union, which notes that substitutes do not always have experience teaching in the subjects they are assigned.

"What it means is that kids go without qualified teachers," said Danielle Lum, a communications specialist for the union. "Kids suffer. The students are the ones who pay the price."

DOE research also has found that many newly hired teachers have little experience and do not meet the requirements for a teaching license. In the 2002-2003 school year, for example, seven out of 10 new teachers had no previous teaching experience and most were considered emergency hires because they either had not passed all of their teacher exams or had not completed their teacher education program.

In late June, the department predicted that it might have to hire about 1,500 teachers this school year because of retirements and turnover, and estimated that it was about one-third short at the time. Knudsen said yesterday that the existing vacancies include 60 part-time positions.

The department typically hires throughout the school year, with many new hires brought on in September and January. Math, science, English and special-education teachers, along with school counselors, continue to be in demand.

"We do need a deeper pool of eligible teachers with the right credentials," Knudsen said.

Reach Derrick DePledge at 525-8084 or ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.