Top teacher pay: $73,000
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Education Writer
Starting pay for trained Hawai'i public school teachers would jump from $36,851 per year to $39,901 under terms of a contract that 13,000 union members will vote on tomorrow.
The average teacher salary would increase from about $47,000 to $53,000, and top salary would go from $66,000 to $73,000, according to a schedule available to HSTA members.
Takabayashi
The raise for new teachers with bachelor's degrees and teacher training was a key part of the deal, and should help draw qualified applicants to a profession that faces an increasing shortage, union and state officials said.
"We need a salary scale that will attract people," Hawai'i State Teachers Association president Roger Takabayashi said. "We're a little closer to that, but we still have a ways to go."
Through salary step movements and across-the-board raises, the contract would provide average pay increases of 9.56 percent over the next two years, and would cost $97.5 million.
State schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said she believed the higher starting pay would help Hawai'i recruit and retain trained teachers. "It's a step in the right direction, because we see the value of teachers in the educational process," she said.
The framework for a new benefits system was another important facet of the deal, Takabayashi said. HSTA has pushed for a new Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association trust because the Legislature voted in 2001 to abolish a previous one and create a single health plan for all public employees.
A new VEBA trust would allow the union to purchase health benefits for its members at a lower price, and families that participate would save up to $590 a year on premiums, Takabayashi said.
Lawmakers are expected to soon approve a bill that would create the trust for an initial three years. That should be plenty of time for HSTA to prove its effectiveness, said Rep. Roy Takumi, chairman of the House Education Committee and a bill sponsor: "If they can deliver benefits to their members at a lower cost, why wouldn't we encourage that?"
An important difference between the old VEBA trust and the one that's proposed is that the new one would cover retirees, he said.
"Once a teacher retired and went to the state employees retirement system, that was a huge draw because as we know, retirees are generally bigger users of the health system than active employees," said Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City Palisades). "Under this VEBA, they will take the retirees. So we've sort of leveled that playing field, and it's a different ballgame."
The new system would include a period in which current retirees could decide whether to stay with the state retirement system or transfer to the VEBA trust, he said. The trust would cover future retirees.
The bill appears to have broad bipartisan support.
"I have no problem with it," said Senate Minority Leader Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo, Hawai'i Kai), a member of the conference committee that will vote on the bill next.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
