They’re renting out spare rooms, working second jobs and they’re still struggling to make ends meet.
At least that’s according to several of the more than 100 Hilo-area teachers who lined Waianuenue Avenue before school Tuesday to rally for a fair contract.
“We’re just asking for a little bit of fairness,” said Matthew Yarberry, a union representative and Hilo High School teacher who, along with students and colleagues, waved signs with messages such as “Teachers taking a stand” and “Our keiki deserve high quality, valued teachers” as cars honked and drove by.
“I personally have to drop my wife off my health care because (premiums) are going up, and I can’t afford my mortgage anymore, and that’s a real tragedy,” he said. “It’s like, we’re doing everything we can.”
Thousands statewide took part in similar demonstrations. The early morning event was organized by the Hawaii State Teacher Association, the union representing Hawaii’s public school teachers.
HSTA’s current contract expires June 30. It’s now in negotiations with the state. In January, the state offered teachers an annual 1 percent lump sum payment, which the union called at the time paltry and unacceptable. The next negotiation session is slated for March 23.
An exact sign-waving turnout locally wasn’t available Tuesday, but HSTA spokesman Keoki Kerr said representatives from most Big Island public schools participated. There are about 2,050 public school teachers on Hawaii Island of which about 1,210 — the largest concentration islandwide — work in the Hilo area, Kerr said.
The HSTA says Hawaii’s starting teachers would need a $4,000 raise in order to earn what teachers who work in similarly high cost-of-living areas make. Mid-career teachers would need raises between $15,000 and $25,000, according to the teachers union, and Hawaii’s most experienced teachers would need pay increases between $10,000 and $15,000 per year.
Newly hired teachers in Hawaii earn between $35,324 and $63,665, depending on their experience and education, according to the state Department of Education’s website.
HSTA says higher wages also would help appease Hawaii’s longstanding teacher shortage. Data from the DOE shows about 44 percent of new teachers hired in the 2011-12 school year left the profession five years later.
And in August, there were 537 vacant positions statewide that were filled with substitute teachers until a permanent hire could be secured. On Hawaii Island, there were 77 vacancies.
The 1 percent offer would equate to an overall “net loss,” Kerr said. For the average teacher, it would amount to an additional $550. Meanwhile, that same teacher would see health care costs increase by about $830, Kerr said.
The union also said “key members” of the state’s negotiating team haven’t attended contract negotiations.
Gov. David Ige’s office refuted that claim in a statement Tuesday that said the state Board of Education, the state’s chief negotiator and its schools superintendent “have always been represented at the bargaining table.”
“The chief negotiator will become more involved in discussions with the HSTA once the Council on Revenues makes its revenue forecast on March 13,” the statement reads.
HSTA also is pushing a bill which would create an “education surcharge” on residential investment properties and visitor accommodations. The union says the surcharge would generate additional funding for high-need areas of public education including recruiting and retaining teachers.
The surcharge has been opposed by people in the local visitor industry who previously told the Tribune-Herald they worry it would hamper tourism.
On Tuesday, Senate Bill 686 — one of the two companion bills which would create the surcharge — crossed over to the House.
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
