An estimated 1,000 Hawaii schoolteachers swarmed the state Capitol on Friday afternoon in support of legislation that would raise taxes to fund a host of improvements at public schools, ranging from higher teacher pay to air conditioning and more public preschools.

The 13,500-member Hawaii State Teachers Association is proposing an increase of 1 percentage point — to 5 percent from 4 percent — to the general excise tax to fund what it’s calling the Schools Our Keiki Deserve Act. A Senate version of the bill is scheduled for an initial hearing before the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday.

HSTA estimates the increase would generate approximately $750 million annually, which the union wants to see support its 10-point omnibus education bill, which also calls for an end to high-stakes testing, a cap on class sizes, and additional preparation time and funding for special-education teachers.

“I’m excited. This is the beginning of a campaign,” HSTA President Corey Rosenlee said as teachers waved signs along South Beretania Street in front of the Capitol. “Our basic message is we can’t ignore our children forever. We’re going to keep on this until we give our keiki the schools they deserve. There’s no good reason not to do this.”

Rosenlee, a Campbell High social studies teacher who was elected president last summer, has been a longtime advocate for improving teaching conditions, campaigning to lead the union on the platform.

“For decades we have ignored our public schools to the point where we are last in the nation when it comes to what we spend on our facilities — we have leaking roofs, we have bathrooms without doors, we have buildings that are falling apart,” he said. “We have a teacher shortage crisis — we have gotten to the point now where we have openings and we can’t find teachers to fill them — and we have taken to a culture of testing instead of teaching to the whole child. When are we going to do something about it? We’re saying we should do something now.”

Several teachers at Friday’s rally said they struggle to make ends meet. While Hawaii’s starting pay for teachers — $44,538 for a newly hired licensed teacher with a bachelor’s degree — appears competitive on paper, the state consistently ranks at or near the bottom of national salary reports when cost of living is factored in.

Olomana School science teacher John De Virgilio, 61, says he can no longer afford to live in Hawaii on his salary, and plans to relocate to Texas after nearly 30 years of teaching here. Even with two part-time jobs, it’s a challenge to make his $2,500 mortgage payment, he said, wearing a sandwich-board sign that read in part, “Live Poor or Work Side Jobs.”

“After 28 years here I’ve got no choice,” De Virgilio said. “I’ve lived here all my life. It’s tough. I’m tired. I work a night job and a weekend job. I can work a third of that in Texas and be comfortable.”

Moanalua Elementary teacher Jenifer Evans, who is in her first year of teaching, said the proposed legislation addresses the needs of students and teachers.

“We were really listened to by our union this past year during a listening tour. The commonalities we heard across the board, across the state, were these 10 points,” Evans, 24, said. “And if you look carefully, all of these 10 points interlock, so there’s no getting better unless we do this all together.”

The GET has not been raised statewide since 1965, and, given its broad application and regressive nature, proposed increases often draw protests. (A temporary 0.5 percent surcharge for Honolulu’s rail system went into effect in 2007 for Oahu only.)

Senate Education Chairwoman Michelle Kidani, who introduced HSTA’s bill, said she recognizes that the school system needs improvements, but funding is a problem with the state’s limited resources and many competing needs.

“Yes, our children deserve the best schools that we can possibly give them. That is not a question at all for me. The issue is, How do we fund it?” Kidani (D, Mililani-Waikele-Kunia) said. “In every other state, the cities and counties pay for public schools, and the states basically supplement where needed. In Hawaii it’s the state that has the whole burden.”

Kidani said the union’s bill as written stands little chance of advancing because it has too many components. She’s broken out the main parts of the bill — including a GET increase dedicated for education — into individual bills to improve their chances of survival in the Legislature.

“Knowing that it’s been over 50 years since we raised the tax, and our population has almost doubled since then, I think it’s time to look at that because we don’t have any other source,” Kidani said of the GET.