Substitutes' pay cut changed

Advertiser Staff

A pay cut for substitute public school teachers has been postponed by nearly three months and won't be as large, the state Department of Education said yesterday.

The state's 3,900 substitute teachers will get a 6 percent pay cut on Jan. 24, going from the current $119.80 per day to $112.53, Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said in a written statement.

Hamamoto rescinded the previously announced pay cut, to $111.41, which was to have taken effect Nov. 1.

The DOE postponed the change because of administrative difficulties in implementing two rate changes in less than three months, Hamamoto said.

Hamamoto said the new pay rate is based on a new salary schedule for regular teachers that was negotiated between the Hawai'i State Teachers Association and the Board of Education. That salary schedule took effect Oct. 4.

Beginning Jan. 24, the pay of substitute teachers will be the same as for starting full-time teachers who have a bachelor's degree, but who have not passed a State-Approved Education Program.

According to Hamamoto, the new rate is consistent with a 1996 law that she said was intended "to pay substitute teachers at the per-diem equivalent of the annual salary of an entry-level teacher with a bachelor's degree."

Her statement did not say what substitutes' pay is based on now or explain why their pay will go down.

The DOE will ask the Legislature to give it the power to set pay rates for substitutes, Hamamoto said, including possibly reinstating a three-tiered system that would give higher pay to substitutes who have teaching degrees or completed advanced coursework.

State education officials have answered a steady stream of calls this week from substitute teachers concerned about the pay cut.

Eric Ferrer, an attorney representing substitute teachers who filed an unrelated class-action lawsuit in 2002 against the DOE seeking an estimated $25 million in back pay, said the new pay agreement changed the way teacher classifications are defined. He said the change in definitions is illegal.

The lawsuit claims that the DOE has not paid substitutes in accordance with a 1996 law known as Act 89.

Ferrer said the memorandum was signed the day before scheduled mediation and a few days before a court hearing on the lawsuit.

"This was sprung on us," Ferrer said. "This document was calculated to give the DOE some leverage in the negotiation talks."

Substitute teachers were angry at the change.

"It is more than money," said Allan Kliternick, a substitute teacher for 15 years. "It is about how they think of us and treat us. It is disrespectful and dishonest."

Kliternick said the public has an incorrect view of the way substitutes are treated. They receive no benefits, he said. Their only compensation is their per diem.

"We get no sick leave, no retirement," he said. "Nobody gets anything."

Advertiser staff writers Mike Gordon and Curtis Lum contributed to this report. Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.