The governor asked the teachers union Friday to bring him a new contract proposal but pledged to push ahead with key education reforms, including those that have been discussed in collective bargaining negotiations.

"We’re going to move forward, regardless," said Gov. Neil Abercrombie in a news conference after teachers overwhelmingly voted down a proposed six-year contract Thursday.

"I would prefer that we be able to conduct this in a manner of mutual cooperation and collaboration, and I think that’s what collective bargaining offers to us. (But) we’ll keep all of our options available to us."

Abercrombie also questioned why teachers voted down a proposed contract supported by Hawaii State Teachers Association leaders.

"This might be a disagreement in the union ranks," he said. "If they’re (HSTA leaders) not in communication with their own members, that’s not something I or the superintendent can resolve."

The state is trying to get a handle on how the contract rejection will affect Hawaii’s ability to convince federal officials it can make good on education reform. The ongoing labor dispute has been blamed in part for putting at risk Hawaii’s $75 million federal Race to the Top grant. The contract would have tied wage increases to performance starting in July 2013, a key element of the state’s Race to the Top plan.

In voting Thursday, 67 percent of teachers disapproved of the proposed agreement, which means they’ll remain for now under the two-year "last, best and final" contract offer with wage reductions imposed by the state in July.

HSTA President Wil Okabe told the Star-Advertiser Friday that his board will meet today to determine how to proceed, and he added the next several weeks will likely be spent meeting with teachers.

"We need to contact our members to get a better understanding of what they want," he said.

Okabe also said he was concerned about the governor’s pledge to move forward on Race to the Top issues without seeking union agreements.

"We would be very concerned if that happens," he said. "We would like to be involved in the process."

Officials declined to speculate Friday about why they believe teachers voted down the contract, by 2-to-1, but many union members have voiced opposition to the agreement’s unanswered questions surrounding performance-based compensation and a teacher evaluation system still being developed.

Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said the state Department of Education notified federal authorities Friday that the contract had not been ratified.

She also said teachers should not be concerned about the new evaluations, but see them as a way to improve their practice.

"We cannot fire our way to the top," she said. "This is all about supporting our teachers and helping them to be the best they can be."

Matayoshi added that without the contract, meeting Race to the Top pledges will be more difficult.

"We’re not giving up on the work that we’re doing," she said, "but we will have to be more creative."

Under the six-year proposed deal, teachers would have continued to see 5 percent wage reductions through June 30, 2013, before moving to a new salary schedule that recognizes their years of service but also ties future raises to performance.

The plan called for a revised teacher evaluation system that took student academic growth into account. Teachers rated "effective" or "highly effective" would have been eligible for 1 percent step raises annually.

The contract did not spell out, though, how student growth would be measured.

In August 2010 Hawaii was one of 10 winners — nine states and the District of Columbia — of a second round of the Race grants aimed at boosting student performance, improving teacher effectiveness and turning around low-performing schools.

A host of delays, including the failure to reach collective bargaining agreements on key reform issues such as new teacher evaluations, spurred the U.S. Department of Education last month to put Hawaii’s grant on "high risk" status and warn the money would be lost if progress wasn’t made.

When asked Friday morning by state Rep. Gene Ward in a House Finance Committee meeting whether the Race grant was in greater danger because of the contract rejection, Matayoshi said the situation creates another "hurdle" for the state’s education reform initiatives, which have been plagued by delays.

The U.S. Department of Education declined comment on the rejection of the contract but pointed the Star-Advertiser to a previous comment from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, in which he congratulated Hawaii for reaching a tentative agreement.

"They took a big step in the right direction" with the deal, Duncan told Education Week earlier this month. "But there’s still a lot of hard work to go there."

The turndown of the proposed contract came as a shock to many education watchers, who had expected the vote to be close but believed the deal would still be ratified.

Joan Husted, former HSTA executive director and chief negotiator, said the percentage of teachers who voted against the contract should give the state and union pause.

"Oh boy, talk about a message," she said. "The teachers got out their bullhorns and started yelling."

Hawaii News Now video: Teachers explain their vote, worry about grant money