Isle teachers are focusing on the kids

Recently the governor, when asked about teachers protesting, asked us to focus on the children.

Governor, we became teachers because we care about children.

We’re being forced to protest because the governor and the state have ignored education for so long that we are now in an educational crisis.

I am a teacher at Campbell High and I’ve taught in classrooms reaching over 95 degrees. I’ve also had to teach classes with more than 40 students. Putting 40 students in a 95-degree classroom is morally wrong.

In order to improve working conditions, I’ve had to buy fans for my classroom out of my own pocket. This is a reality for most teachers who spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars of their own money to provide students who come to school without supplies or even food. These are essentials for learning.

Recently Farrington High School’s auditorium roof collapsed. If it had been just two hours later, hundreds of students would have been in the auditorium. For years, Farrington’s auditorium was scheduled for repairs, but there was no money.

On average, our schools are 65 years old and require millions of dollars in backlogged repairs. Will it take a tragedy to occur before the state acts?

Teachers in Hawaii are the worst paid in the nation, based on comfort level and cost of living. The fallacy that is often made regarding salaries is comparing state to state. Hawaii is the only statewide school district. In Illinois there are districts that pay teachers more based on cost of living (like Chicago, where teachers on average make 69-89 percent more than Hawaii teachers) and districts where you can buy a house for $50,000. When you compare Hawaii to districts with similarly high costs of living, the reality of how poorly Hawaii teachers are paid is apparent.

Research shows the most important thing in a student’s education is teacher quality. But in Hawaii we look for bargain-basement deals. A beginning teacher in Hawaii can earn as little as $31,000 a year, which qualifies a family of three for food stamps.

What happens when you put a well-educated person in a hot, crumbling room and underpay them? They leave. Hawaii has up to 1,600 teachers leave a year, and 56 percent leave every five years, making it the highest teacher-turnover rate in the nation. There are so many vacancies that the state can’t get enough teachers. Last year 40 percent of teachers were emergency hires, meaning they lack specific qualifications to become a teacher. Some of these become great teachers, but after a few years they get frustrated, too, and leave.

How can we focus on children if we don’t focus on the people teaching them? Are you willing to accept the cheapest bargain to be your child’s teacher? We are protesting so that every student, rich or poor, gets a quality education.

There is a solution for the problem: House Bill 1368, called the Penny for Education Act. This would raise the general excise tax by 1 cent per dollar and provide a source of money to really improve education in Hawaii.

I can already hear the complaints: You can’t raise taxes, so why not cut taxes instead and cut the education budget by $500 million? But there would be a consequence: Our buildings would start falling down, teachers’ salaries would be cut and many teachers would decide to leave. We wouldn’t have enough teachers, so we would have to hire people without teaching degrees. Hawaii residents would be enraged. They would demand action.

So, governor, this is why we are protesting. We are protesting because we are focusing on the children of Hawaii and want all of them to get a good education.