A state judge has ruled legislation linking the pay of substitutes with that of full-time teachers did not bind the Department of Education to raise substitutes' pay, rejecting a claim that raises were due.

A group representing Hawai'i's substitute teachers had filed a motion on Sept. 21 asking for a 4 percent raise the substitutes say is being denied by the DOE.

State Circuit Judge Victoria Marks ruled Monday in favor of the DOE, saying there was no binding requirement under the 2006 legislation.

"While we respectfully disagree with Judge Marks' decision on the merits, she did certify a class of substitute teachers to pursue the litigation, and plaintiffs intend to appeal," said attorney Bruce Wakuzawa of Alston Hunt Floyd and Ing, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of substitute teachers.

The suit said the 2006 law, Act 263, tied pay increases for substitutes to increases for licensed Class II teachers as mandated through collective bargaining agreements.

But when Class II teachers received a 4 percent increase on Aug. 1, the DOE did not provide a similar wage increase for substitute teachers, the lawsuit asserted.

The lawsuit represented the roughly 1,000 substitute teachers who work for the DOE on any given day.

Substitute teachers without a bachelor's degree receive $125 a day; teachers with a degree receive $136 a day. Substitute teachers with teaching credentials get $147 a day, according to the DOE.

Plaintiffs listed in this recent lawsuit include Maui substitute David Garner, David Hudson of the Big Island, and Jo Jennifer Goldsmith and Allan Kliternick of Honolulu.

Garner and Kliternick were involved in an earlier lawsuit, which sought about $30 more a day for about 9,000 substitute teachers who worked from Nov. 1, 2000, to June 30, 2005.

Circuit Judge Karen Ahn ruled in favor of the substitutes last year. She said the state failed to pay the teachers by a formula set in 1996.

The state appealed that decision.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.