HILO, Hawai'i — Teachers across the state have been in heated debates this week over a proposed new contract provision that would impose mandatory random and for-cause drug testing on teachers statewide. Teachers are scheduled to vote today on whether to accept the drug testing plan and the raises that are being offered with it.

Robert Dircks, principal at Hilo High School, said some of his staff believe the drug testing is evidence of a "sellout" of teachers' rights by the Hawaii State Teachers Association, while other teachers are comfortable with drug testing and want the 8 percent raises and the 3 percent salary step increase being offered in the two-year package.

Dircks, who won't be covered by the proposed contract, said he will be glad when today's vote is over.

"I'm trying to act as a referee here, but when it starts impacting instruction, I have a problem with that, and emotions are so high that the kids are feeling it, and something's got to give here," he said.

Deborah Lynn Dickerson, a veteran counselor at Keonepoko Elementary School in Puna on the Big Island, said Gov. Linda Lingle's demand for the drug-testing program treats teachers as if they were parolees subjected to mandatory testing after they are released from prison.

"I don't want it in my contract. I don't want to have my constitutional rights taken away in exchange for what I consider a piddly raise in the beginning," Dickerson said. "We have a right to be treated as professionals."

Others are comfortable with the contract proposal. Steven Martin, a veteran teacher at Waiakea Intermediate School, said he is inclined to vote for it.

"I've looked at it, and I think it's a pretty good contract," said Martin during a break from a union briefing in Hilo yesterday. "I have no problems with it. ... The drug testing does not bother me."

HSTA NEUTRAL

Roger Takabayashi, president of the HSTA, said he believes this is the first time the union's board of directors has sent a tentative contract to its members without a recommendation either for or against the proposal.

He said the union chose that approach after delegates to the HSTA's annual convention in Waikiki in mid-April split over the Lingle administration's drug testing proposal. He said the administration tied drug testing to pay raises and refused to sever the two issues.

Emotions ran high on both sides of the convention debates, and union leadership concluded there needed to be a membership vote, Takabayashi said.

NO PREDICTIONS

HSTA Executive Director Joan Husted said the outlook for the vote has been shifting, but said she has "no idea" how it will finally turn out.

Takabayashi and Husted have both argued publicly in the past against blanket drug testing of teachers, and Takabayashi said he does not believe the public school system has a problem with teachers using drugs.

"I feel our children are safe in our public schools," he said.

If ratified, the agreement will require the HTSA to work with the state to design drug testing procedures by June 30, 2008. Takabayashi said the union would press for safeguards in the program because "every effort has to be made to protect the individual rights of teachers."

The pay increases offered in the proposed contract would boost starting pay for new teachers from $39,901 to $43,157. For mid-range teachers with about 15 years of experience, a master's degree and some additional credit hours, annual pay would increase from $59,566 today to $66,359 at the end of the contract.

For the most experienced teachers with more than 33 years on the job, the proposed contract would boost pay from $73,197 to $79,170, Takabayashi said.

The union representatives said they have been trying to quash a rumor that the proposed contract would require retirees to pay for their own medical coverage. They said that is false and is not part of the tentative agreement up for a vote.

Teachers expressed concern yesterday at the possibility that false positive drug tests could ruin their reputations, and some said they believe Lingle is forcing the testing program on teachers to score political points for herself. Others said they regard drug testing for teachers as a waste of money in an education system they believe is already underfunded.

LINGLE CITES SAFETY

The Lingle administration has said the testing program "will help ensure that schools are safe for students, faculty and staff, and will increase parents' confidence that their children are being taught in a drug-and-alcohol-free environment. The drug and alcohol testing will also benefit teachers by helping those who might be identified with problems to get necessary treatment."

Lingle spokesman Russell Pang declined further comment.

Teachers acknowledged a series of well-publicized arrests this year of schoolteachers who allegedly used or sold drugs.

Leilani Nautu, a Ka'a'awa Elementary School teacher, said that "I would have to agree that it's time for drug testing to make sure those who are working with children and making important decisions about children are drug tested."

However, she said teacher testing should be just the first step.

"I think they need to extend this to our administrators, including top administrators in the state as well as Board of Ed members and all the way up to legislators and government officials," Nautu said. "These are all people who make decisions every day, and if they're doing drugs, their judgment could be clouded, and we could have decisions coming down that affect children all the way from the top."

NO JUSTIFICATION SEEN

Others argued the recent arrests don't justify a sweeping new statewide drug testing program that targets only teachers.

"It's too bad that six people recently have caused the problem for 13,000 who are really trying to do a good job," said Michael Rohr, a special-education English teacher at Hilo High. Rohr said a number of his fellow teachers are unhappy with the testing requirement, but said he can't gauge how the vote today is likely to turn out.

"It's hard to vote against your paycheck, and that's one of the things a lot of people are really upset about," Rohr said.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.