EDITORIAL
Pay cut for substitute teachers is unfair

As anyone who has ever tried it knows only too well, the job of being a substitute teacher is difficult indeed.

But in what appears a move to add injury to insult, the state has advised Hawai'i's substitute teachers that they will soon receive a pay cut of about 6 percent.

Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said the new pay is based on a salary schedule for regular teachers negotiated between the teachers' union and the Board of Education.

Beginning Jan. 24, the pay of substitutes 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 — which is 6 percent less than they make now.

It would appear that part of the problem is that substitute teachers are not represented at the table when the salary pie is divvied up.

As a matter of fairness, when the pay of regular teachers goes up, so should that of substitutes.

Pricing of new contracts should include the assumption that substitutes will get the same percentage of pay increases as regular teachers. One group should not be played off against the other.

Hawai'i, like so many jurisdictions, struggles to keep a full roster of qualified teachers on the payroll. Substitutes play an important role in filling inevitable gaps.

It makes no sense to drive these valuable workers away by choking them on their already modest per diem salary.