The Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association has reached a tentative agreement with the state and Board of Education for a new four-year contract.
"Approximately 14.5% increase in pay over the course of the four-year commitment for our public school teachers," Gov. Josh Green said Monday. "This will increase the pay of a teacher at least $10,000 over the course of their contract."
Green said the contract will give new teachers a starting salary of $50,000 a year — a significant increase for some who receive roughly $38,000. The proposed agreement provides annual pay raises of 3.4% for teachers.
"We're talking about being able to afford to live in Hawaiʻi," he said.
Green estimates the new agreement will cost $577 million, which he says the state can afford.
That's despite the Council on Revenues giving a slightly lower projection earlier this year, due to the uncertainty of a recession, slowing US tourism, and the slow return of Japanese visitors.
"One of the most important things our administration is fighting for is the GAP plan, our affordability plan, which is a tax break for people that are living essentially paycheck to paycheck," Green said. "Many teachers are living paycheck to paycheck and month to month, because of housing."
Veteran teachers were able to get financial relief last year after former Gov. David Ige approved a new approach to solving a practice known as "salary compression" that kept teachers stuck at the same pay scale for years.
The proposed contract also includes paid time for professional development and bonuses for experienced educators. It also assures health and safety improvements at schools, as well as time for teachers to adjust whenever there is an emergency closure.
HSTA President Osa Tui Jr. said this is the strongest contract the union has been able to secure since 2013.
"This round of bargaining was the most collaborative I've experienced in my decade of negotiations with the employer," Tui said.
"In 2013, we were coming off pretty rough times in negotiations. So we wanted to sit down, we got to hash things out. In 2017, it was more 'Here's some money, do you want the money? We're not going to discuss anything else.' And ultimately, our teachers said, 'Sure, we'll take the money.'"
Tui said the next round of discussions happened in 2021, which was hindered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This is really the first time we've been able to say we want to sit down, have substantive conversation, open the whole contract, look at different things. And we did."
HSTA's 13,500 members will vote April 26 on the agreement. If approved, the new contract goes into effect this July.
