It is unlikely that a teacher drug testing program will be funded by June 30, the contractual deadline for state education officials to establish a random drug testing program.

Both the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, which represents some 13,000 public school teachers statewide, and the state Department of Education have been meeting over the past several months to establish procedures and protocols for the random drug testing program, officials say.

Those procedures will be in place by the deadline specified in the teachers' new contract, officials say.

However, they admit that implementation is contingent upon funding. And so far neither the state nor the state Board of Education have agreed to pay for the program.

"At this point, it was not funded. So we will put the procedures and protocols in place but it will not be implemented until there is funding available," said Karen Knudsen, first vice chairwoman of the state Board of Education.

Lingle administration officials say they have been working with education officials to establish the program by the deadline.

While they remain convinced that the the program will be established by June 30, the administration is prepared to consider "contractual or legal options" if the program doesn't get implemented, said Marie Laderta, director of the state Department of Human Resources Development.

HSTA President Roger Ta-kabayashi said: "We will get the procedures and protocols done in a timely fashion. They are meeting, they are working on it.

"But I don't know how it will be financed."

Takabayashi said the union is prepared to comply with random drug testing.

PART OF NEW CONTRACT

Teachers approved a new contract last year that included raises and a stipulation that they submit to random drug testing. Since then, the governor and state Board of Education have been in a dispute over who should pay for the program.

In January, the governor refused to include money for the program in her budget request to the state Legislature. The state Board of Education then voted against taking $500,000 out of the DOE's $2.34 million budget to pay for the program.

Board Chairwoman Donna Ikeda said education officials and the union are fulfilling their contractual obligation to establish random drug testing procedures by June 30.

However, Ikeda said it is "quite likely" that the program will be left unfunded by the time the deadline comes and goes.

"I don't know where we're going to get the money to fund this thing," Ikeda said. "I've said I'm not taking it from the classroom."

Ikeda pointed out that the DOE's budget sustained about $7.7 million in cuts, specifically from student support, this past legislative session. She said those cuts could affect bus fares, A-Plus after-school program fees, school lunch prices and adult education costs.

Laderta said the Lingle administration has been assured by the DOE that the drug testing program would be in place by the deadline.

"They have said they are prepared to honor the agreement that was negotiated in good faith," Laderta said. "We have every hope that they will abide by this important term of the contract," she said.

The consequences of not meeting the deadline are not clear.

PAY RAISES AT RISK?

Some board members have said they were concerned about what could happen to teacher pay raises if neither the administration nor the board fund the program.

"If there was a threat of withholding pay raises, that would be my concern," Knudsen said.

In February, the governor had suggested that teacher pay raises would be in jeopardy if the drug testing program was not implemented.

The American Civil Liberties Union has told board members that pay raises could not be withheld if the BOE decides not to fund the program.

Ikeda said teachers cannot be held responsible if their employer — the state — decides not to pay for random drug testing.