Teachers pitch a tax for funding
The teachers union has again set its sights on generating more taxes to increase funding for Hawaii public schools. This time, it’s eyeing residential investment properties and visitor accommodations.
HOW IT BREAKS DOWN
The teachers union wants voters to be able to consider allowing the state to tax residential investment properties and visitor accommodations to increase funding for public schools. The surcharges would raise an estimated $500 million per year, according to the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
Property tax surcharge per $1,000 of total value of investment properties:
>> Under $500,000: $3.50
>> $500,000 to under $750,000: $4.50
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>> $750,000 to under $1 million: $5.50
>> $1 million to under $2 million: $6.50
>> $2 million or more: $7.50
Surcharge on all visitor accommodations:
>> $3 per day for each visitor accommodation offered for less than $150 per day
>> $5 per day for each visitor accommodation offered for $150 or more per day
The Hawaii State Teachers Association has drafted a constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would allow the state to collect a property tax surcharge on residential investment properties and a daily surcharge on all visitor accommodations at hotels, timeshares and vacation rentals. The money would be set aside in a special fund for education.
An amendment is needed because the state Constitution exclusively authorizes the counties to levy property taxes.
If lawmakers agree to place the amendment on the 2018 ballot, it would ask: “Shall the Legislature fund a quality public education for all of Hawaii’s children, including the recruitment and retention of teachers; lower class sizes; special education programming; and career and technical education, art, music, Hawaiian studies, and Hawaiian language instruction by establishing a surcharge on residential investment property and visitor accommodations?”
The union, which represents 13,500 members, says the proposed surcharges together would raise an estimated $500 million a year that it wants to make available for four priorities related to hiring and retaining teachers.
“With that $500 million we think we can start solving the systemic problems that we have in Hawaii schools,” HSTA President Corey Rosenlee said in an interview. “At the core of it, as long as we have a teacher shortage crisis and we don’t have a surplus of teachers, it’s going to make it very difficult to attack a lot of those other problems that are affecting education.”
Rosenlee said the approach received broad support in public polling by the union.
‘Going after speculators’
The surcharge on residential investment properties — homes or condominiums that do not serve as a primary residence — would be tiered based on a property’s assessed value, according to companion legislation to the proposed constitutional amendment.
“If you have a home and that is your one home, you will not have to pay this tax,” Rosenlee said.
Owners of investment properties valued at less than $500,000 would be taxed $3.50 for every $1,000 of their total property value. The rate would be $4.50 for every $1,000 for investment properties valued at between $500,000 and $750,000; $5.50 for properties valued at between $750,000 and $1 million; $6.50 for properties valued at between $1 million and $2 million; and $7.50 for homes valued at $2 million or more.
Under the proposed rates, the annual surcharge would amount to $3,150 for an investment home valued at $700,000, and $6,500 for a property valued at $1 million. The proposal includes more than a dozen exemptions for investment properties, including affordable housing that’s rented for less than $1,500 a month; properties rented to low-income seniors or disabled veterans; Hawaiian homesteads; and properties used exclusively for charitable purposes.
“Our basic philosophy behind this is: It’s a way to make sure that we fund our schools, make sure that we have quality teachers in the classroom, and at the same time, going after speculators that have made affordable housing in Hawaii almost impossible,” Rosenlee said.
Hawaii, which is the only statewide school district in the country, is the only state that does not use property taxes to finance education. Isle schools are state-funded primarily from the general fund, which is filled by revenue from the general excise tax, personal income tax and others.
On the mainland, where property taxes are often the main source of funding for schools, a deep divide exists between schools in rural or economically depressed areas and schools in wealthy neighborhoods with higher property values.
A model for the nation
Rosenlee said the union’s approach could serve as a model for other school districts because the revenue collected would be spent across all schools.
“So Kalani wouldn’t get more than Nanakuli,” he said, referring to an East Honolulu high school where the surrounding median household income is $102,844 versus a West Oahu school where the median household income is $68,716 and 76 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
“We really could be a model for the nation in that we would be a system that properly funds its schools at an equal rate,” Rosenlee said. “That doesn’t happen anywhere else.”
The visitor accommodations surcharge, meanwhile, would tack on a daily $3 fee for transient accommodations offered for less than $150 per day. The fee would increase to $5 a day for accommodations offered for $150 or more per day. A week-long stay at a $500 per night hotel, for example, would incur a $35 charge.
The daily fee would apply to all visitor accommodations subject to the state’s transient accommodations tax — those offered for less than 180 consecutive days.
Inadequate funding
Although the state Department of Education has one of the largest operating budgets among state departments, with about $1.6 billion allocated from the general fund this year, Rosenlee says schools here are inadequately funded.
Nationally, state averages for per-pupil spending on instruction and support services at public schools ranged from a high of $20,610 in New York to a low of $6,500 in Utah during fiscal 2014, the most recent Census data show. Hawaii’s spending was at $12,458 that year, above the national average for states of $11,009.
When broken down to the school district level, however, Hawaii — the 10th largest district in the nation — fares worse. An analysis of per-pupil expenditures among the nation’s largest school districts ranked Hawaii 227th for per-pupil funding.
Last legislative session, the union was unsuccessful in its effort to raise the general excise tax to create a dedicated funding stream for public schools. Rosenlee said that by putting the issue to voters through a constitutional amendment, lawmakers would not be put in the position of voting for a tax increase.
Up to the voters
The heads of the education committees in the state House and Senate say they plan to give the proposals an initial public hearing.
“First and foremost, this bill allows the voters to decide. It has to go on the ballot, and it’s only if the voters approve, it would pass,” said Sen. Michelle Kidani, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee. “We always say that children are our future, that it’s important to educate our children. So this is a time when we would leave it up to the voters. Is it important enough to them to do this?”
She added that providing all students with a high-quality education will require increased funding. “We can’t do that if we don’t have the funding that it takes and if we can’t attract the best teachers,” she said.
Rep. Roy Takumi, chairman of the House Education Committee, said he’s in favor of increasing the Department of Education’s budget but isn’t convinced this is the best route.
“I’m not opposed to it. It’s an intriguing idea, but there are far more questions than there are answers at this point,” he said.
For one, he believes it could “flip collective bargaining on its head” by allowing one public worker union to have a special pot of funds from which it could negotiate for pay raises.
84 responses to “Teachers pitch a tax for funding”
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Now we see the relevance of alternatives to the public school system that does not work any more. Everyone wants to send their kids to Punahou or Iolani but cannot come up with $25,000 each year for tuition. We spend over $15,000 per child for our public school system. Ditch the public school system and put a $15,000 dollar voucher in each parent’s hand for their child and see how quickly new schools start to appear and the educational system improve. The Gov. Ige wants the local schools to have more power, what is more empowering with each principal controlling payroll and accounting for the cost of running the schools. Accountability to the parents and not to politicians or bureaucrats is what vouchers are really accomplish.
I agree.
It will take a constitutional amendment to get on the 2018 ballot and it is hard to pass these amendments. I do not blame HSTA for trying to get taxes increased to please their membership. That is their job. But it won’t likely pass.
You have a good point and I totally agree with you however the public school system, at a smaller scale, should remain to convert into specialty trade schools for students that prefer not to obtain a college degree. This will help those students become certified trade specialists to pursue careers right out of graduation. These students will receive 4 solid years of trade training of their choice. Meanwhile, students wanting to pursue college and professional degrees will enter into high-level education programs administered by private school institutions. These private schools have established curriculums that work. It is not reinventing the wheel which DOE is famous for doing over and over.
I too would like to propose an amendment to be placed on the ballot for voters to decide.
“Shall the members of the Hawaii legislature be limited to 2 consecutive terms in office”.
Oh .. I forgot, I don’t own Ige and the other democrats as HSTA does.
Instead of worrying about the effects of flipping collective bargaining on its head, politicians should mandate flipping the DOE on its head. Instead of the top dropping initiatives onto schools, initiatives should come from schools and the DOE should find ways to support those initiatives. Of course a pay raise would be nice, but the reality of the DOE overshadows teachers’ pay: when teachers question bureaucratic mandates, they are simply told to do what they are told or leave. If the present top-down management does not change, higher salaries will simply reinforce the bureaucratic status quo. We need to rethink education.
Why should there be a special tax to help support the teachers union? That is who the tax will really support, more teachers more money collected from dues. Rosenlee is using psychology the way she is planning this tax, she knows the people of Hawaii are tired of all the foreign investment raising housing prices putting it out of reach of locals, “If you have a home and that is your one home, you will not have to pay this tax,” but what about the locals who worked hard and invested in housing or the others who’s parents, grandparents and great grandparents did the same and pasted it down to their children? Then for her to say, by putting the issue to voters through a constitutional amendment, lawmakers would not be put in the position of voting for a tax increase. Of course the useless incompetent politicians would go for it and say it’s what the people wanted. Sen. Michelle Kidani, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee quickly agree with Rosenlee, “First and foremost, this bill allows the voters to decide. It has to go on the ballot, and it’s only if the voters approve, it would pass.” She goes on to say “We always say that children are our future, that it’s important to educate our children. So this is a time when we would leave it up to the voters. Is it important enough to them to do this?” What have they been doing all these years with all the money that the State has collected from the people of Hawaii?
IRT Hawn, solution is to repeal Sections 5, 6, & 7 of Article XII of the Hawaii’s Constitution, or the repeal of OHA. Prior to the establishment of OHA in 1978, the Admissions Act allowed the net funds from the Ceded lands went to the Department of Education. We can return to that process that net funds from the Ceded Lands go to Public Education for all our children, of all ethnicity.
Before one more dollar of taxpayer’s money goes to the educational union money pit, we must ensure all the requirements from past state audits have been completed and a new audit done. Any action not done will require responsible bureaucrats to be let go for their willful failure to do their jobs.
New audit must also focus on over staffing, how many with teaching degrees are now in the back office area, no longer teaching, supply management.
Audit must also show the futility of continued funding of pensions, focus on the benefits of all new hires going under the 401k plan. A massive savings for taxpayers.
HSTA bureaucrats mistakenly think taxpayers would just hand them $500 million and poof, all their problems would go away. Sorry, not going to happen. Education bureaucrats always say more money will solve problems. Then in a few years they are right back asking for more.
Agree.
Also agree.
I do not support a special tax to support the teacher’s union but I do support taxing to the hilt residential investment properties and visitor accommodations, especially time share and vacation rental of properties permitted as residential, and applying those monies to the general fund for rail development and infrastructure maintenance.
The fat man wants to double the tax on all rental homes and double the room tax on hotel rooms to the tune of a half billion a year. Is he crazy? They’ve bought Ige and are really trying to cash in on their investment I see.
Hawaii would be better off privatizing public schools, starting with the worse performing schools first. You’d be amazed at the possibilities for improvement at the DOE if they’re given the proper incentive to perform as is done in private sector employment.
Rosenlee has balls to make such proposals given the dismal performance of the DOE in nationwide rankings. He would do better to get the DOE to spend their existing budget in more prudent ways. Do we really need so many deputy superintendents? Do we really need so many regional superintendents? Do we really need district offices top heavy with staff that do little to benefit schools? LIke senior administrators at UH, they could all disappear tomorrow and the wheels would still be turning. The DOE and UH are loaded with political patronage positions that do little to nothing. Just ask Brian Schatz brother, the deputy superintendent for strategic reform who conveniently had the job created for him by Schatz as soon as he got elected Lt. Gov. a few year back.
This added tax would get passed on to the average Hawaii citizen who are renting these homes, making their monthly rental cost even higher than what it already is. This does not help solve the affordable housing problem we have, it would only make it worse.
agree, rent is already too high. This would only create more homeless.
I am not against a new/higher tax for investment properties that are valued at, say, $800,000 or higher. But there shouldn’t be any tax increases for houses priced lower than that, even second properties, because the cost will be passed on to lower- or middle-income renters who are probably already struggling to stay afloat in Hawaii. Causing more renters to become homeless isn’t going to help our schools. But for the luxury properties, yes, their taxes should be raised.
I propose a tax surcharge on fat people. $5.00 for every ounce of weight over 250lbs.
That should generate an equal amount of money for schools.
If this deal goes through, then the teachers union should get no support from the state.
“With that $500 million we think we can start solving the systemic problems that we have in Hawaii schools,” HSTA President Corey Rosenlee said in an interview.
Don’t be fooled by these hollow words. The HSTA was not established to “solve the systemic problems… in Hawaii schools”. The HSTA was set up to benefit teachers, period. This is a union, not a public service organization. Remember, they protect even the most incompetent and/or dysfunctional teacher. This money, if they get it, is destined for teacher’s pay. I’m curious to see if “solving systemic problems” is even part of the HSTA’s charter or vision.
Exactly. Lets also not forget under Trump, parents can receive vouchers of all federal money their school would receive for their child to attend.
Parents can then decide on the best charter or private school for their child to attend. Expect a huge exodus of students from the public education system to the more efficient and caring charter/private system.
With this exodus, BOE/DOE/HSTA will have to cut personnel as they will no longer have all those students to support. Every person laid off is one less to give long term pension funding.
Lets Git’r done!!!
School vouchers will not change things for present public school students and families. Punahou and Iolani will not displace present students in order to accept kids from Nanakuli unless they are good athletes. The only people who would benefit are families who already have their kids in private schools. School vouchers are just a subsidy for families with kids in private schools. It will take money AWAY from public schools.
Tanuki,
If the amount of the voucher is less than the per-pupil DOE regular-ed budget, the per-pupil revenue that remains behind goes up (this ignores the overhang of the 20,000 students already enrolled in independent and parochial schools).
If the Legislature wants to raise per-pupil DOE revenues and reduce the demands on an under-funded public employee pension system, it makes sense to start cutting DOE enrollment at both ends: subsidize escape options starting with Kindergarten in year one, then K+1 in year two, K,1,2 in year three, etc. This would minimize the financial shock to the DOE. Vouchers would work, but I prefer a policy I call Parent Performance Contracting (hire parents to determine what their children learn and who teaches them).
At the other end, lower the age at which students may take the GED from 17 to 16 and subsidize post-secondary tuition and private-sector employment for students who escape before age 18.
Yeah, so the teachers union will want all of the property taxes.
Yes. Cannot understand the city funding a State department. Doesn’t make sense.
Dont worry, they dont get funds from the State. They get it from the teachers through union dues. LOL
Did you know the Legislature is proposing a law that the STATE (i.e., tax dollars) will fund the public unions in the future, not the unionized workers themselves? I wonder why the Star-Advertiser hasn’t mentioned that.
Don’t property taxes come under the City & Counties? Is Caldwell supporting this tax increase?
Probably, except he will want to skim it for Rail.
Yes, property assessments and taxes are under the jurisdiction of each county. Each county has different ordinances dealing with this. So would each county be tasked with this extra burden for the state? Each county would probably want a cut for “administrative costs”. e.g. just as the state takes 10% of the 0.05% of the Honolulu rail tax. Also the state keeps limiting the amount of the TAT each county gets. I would guess that the counties would do the same to the state. OR would the state form their own real property assessment office?
Hawaii Democrats have never met a tax they didn’t like. I’ve known from day one that the GE tax surcharge would never sunset. If anything they’re going to apply it statewide sooner or later.
Time for a state lottery!
California elected bureaucrats tried that decades ago. Told taxpayers all the additional money raised would support education. They lied.
As lottery money flowed in, the state quietly reduced educational funding to match lottery money. Schools did not get extra money. Later on experts reviewed the lottery system, said you had a far higher chance of winning at a Casino, total waste of money to buy lotto tickets.
Fast forward to today and the state’s educational system is a sinking money pit. Fortunately under under Trump, parents can receive vouchers of all federal money their school would receive for their child to attend.
Parents can then decide on the best charter or private school for their child to attend. Expect a huge exodus of students from the public education system to the more efficient and caring charter/private system.
With this exodus, BOE/DOE/HSTA will have to cut personnel as they will no longer have all those students to support. Every person laid off is one less to give long term pension funding.
You make it sound like a voucher system solves all problems…the money Trump wants to use for his voucher system comes from the pot which helps fund kids in the high risk/low income areas. So, one, you hurt the funds going to those schools, and two, it is insufficient to pay for a private school education anyway. Frankly, I’ll be you don’t even know what the per pupil voucher amount would be…or how he plans to take the funds when Congress just re-tooled Title I last year.
That would be the easiest solution but you know the money will never reach the kids it was intended for. By the time it trickles down to the classroom it may only be enough to buy one school lunch after all the teachers and admin staff get their pay raises.
Maybe we should just make education pay to play like everything else? We drive on roads that need to be maintained so the city wants to increase vehicle taxes, charge vehicle owners by the amount of miles driven and raise parking meter rates. If you don’t own a vehicle then you don’t have to worry about any of those fees. Folks that own multiple vehicles pay the fees for each vehicle they own.
Apply the same method to our public school system. The more kids you have in school, the more you pay. As for the folks that opt to send their kids to a private school, that should free up all kinds of public school money. We don’t have a voucher system here so take the total enrollment of all private schools in the state and multiply that number by $12,458 and see how much money is being saved. How about an audit to see where all that money goes?
Audit already done for every school. Do some research.
Public school enrollment 2013-2014 – 185,273
Private school enrollment 2014-2015 – 36,797
* Enrollment numbers came from the 2015 state audit report and the HAIS school report for 2014 – 2015
Hawaii Department of Education budget according to what’s currently posted on their website:
“The Department operates Hawaii’s public schools on a $1.9 billion budget comprised primarily of state funds (81 percent), as well as federal, special and trust funds.”
Based on the figure of $12,458 per student that would equate to $2.3B total in 2014. Data from the 2014 census shows Hawaii’s education budget is over $2.5B, that includes federal, state and local funds.(data subject to sampling error)
Add public and private school students together and divide that into $2.3B and the cost per student will be $10,357. Now multiply $10,357 by just the total amount of private school students and you’re looking at $381M of public school funds that are not being spent when folks send their kids to private schools. What is the DOE doing with that money?
GREAT IDEA HSTA! Just tax the Heck out of all of us some more!!! Why do you get to have access to any more of my money that I put at risk investing in real estate? Did you sweat for the down payment? Did you get up at 0300 every morning for years just to be able to start the process of investment ownership? Did you fix the damage on a couple of precious days off from a drunk tenant? Does your union educate my kids? NO!
So just go away and figure out how to do your job with what you are given; which is a lot. How much of our tax dollar goes to education anyway? I heard once that it was about 60% of the state budget. Not sure on that number but a bloated administration, ineffective tenured teachers and a general lack of give a cr@* from many of the students and parents are the cause of poor education in this state and many others like it.
Don’t ask me for any more money. I have already spent it on education at a private school.
Well that’s your choice if you chose to wake up early to make ends meet and choose private over public schools.
Its not your choice to take money from me either.
You can expect a savings on your private school costs.
Under Trump, parents can receive vouchers of all federal money their school would receive for their child to attend.
Expect the BOE/DOE/HSTA to whine like full diaper step children as more students jump ship.
The amendment should read “Do you support more taxes with less results”? We can not keep wasting more money on a broken system that does not work. Hold both teachers and administrators accountable. Slash admin costs by 50% and we get closer to what it should be. Unburden the teachers, let them teach the way they were taught but hold them accountable. Reward teachers for results! Get rid of the union and much of the problems with the system and the teacher shortage will disappear real fast.
Keep raising the taxes on people who don’t live here and eventually they will stop coming here.
The state government can’t keep throwing good money after bad at this problem. Instead of asking for more taxes, they need to operate within their budget. If that means getting rid of some of the bloated bureaucracy that only drags down the system and funneling that money to the teachers, then do it! More controls and regulation of the education system hasn’t resulted in better schools for our keiki, so why not try going in the other direction?
When you have a one party government, and that party has sold their souls to the unions, this is what you get. Unions thinking they can write tax legislation and constitutional amendments. You get politicians who are more than happy to “Punt” by putting it on the ballot, usually written in such a way that the average voter doesn’t comprehend that it’s a way to suck more money out of our pockets. Most voters standing in the voting booth read these long questions and never get to the end of the text before deciding to vote yes or no. That’s why the hid the rip off in the last ten words: “Shall the Legislature fund a quality public education for all of Hawaii’s children, including the recruitment and
retention of teachers; lower class sizes; special education programming; and career and technical education, art, music, Hawaiian studies, and Hawaiian language instruction by establishing a surcharge on residential investment property and visitor accommodations?”
Fire the public school teachers! You got kids, you pay for them, don’t make the rest of us pay for your problems! Replace the public school teachers with video conferencing in classrooms! Major universities on the mainland have already started distance learning from world class professors via conferences via the Internet. Sit the kids down at their desks and turn on the live video conference feed and be done with it!
Foreign K-12 teachers is all that is needed to read children’s books to 6 year olds. No need for over educated PhD teachers in the US to read children’s books to 6 year olds earning $64k+ in Honolulu County plus a pension and free health care for life! Complete waste of tax dollars.
Thanks for the laugh. I dont need to watch comedy central tonight.
“Investment” should be taken out of the language of this proposal. Real property taxes on most rental properties would double if this passes. That added cost would be passed down in the form of higher rents. This is a bad proposal.
This is Insane! We spend enough already, cut the FAT and make some drastic changes.
This state has Ben under Dem control for decades and are the cause for all our problems!
DUMP the zoo! Use that percentage of a percent of already existing property taxes approved last November, instead.
HNL is NOT a “world class” city. It DOES NOT need a vanity zoo!
Make Hawaii Great Again!!! Give teachers and for that matter anybody else on the public dole the ability to tax. I can’t imagine too many other states where an idea like this would ever see the light of day but I have to remember that this is a state where our legislature has sold out to the public unions.
When I first read the Headline, I thought it was a misprint…. is this a joke? Just hoping Mr Trump and his aides can take a look at the business practices going on in our small state and see it’s time to shake things up?!
Go away HSTA. You’ve already done enough damage.
Tax those that have children in Public Schools!
Public education benefits EVERYONE! If you have a bunch of uneducated people you have more sleeping on the streets.
True, better than nothing, but those that don’t use this service are still paying. That is not right! Leave it as it is. This is a State problem not a County’s.
Right but if you need $500 million and you have 185,000 students and you assume half cannot afford to pay you only have to charge the others a $5,405 tuition (ok a $6,000 to cover the bureaucracy of collecting it) to raise the funds you need. For the public school system the union is promising (guarantees?) this would have to be one of the greatest deals out there for the parents with children in public school – far better than the $20,000+ for a private school . . .
This is a bonanza for public school students but not fair to those who prefer private schools. Not all private school parents are wealthy. They are just willing to pay for what they get. IMHO public school parents deserve what they get and less not more!
(mcc): “Public education benefits EVERYONE!”
NOT(‘education”=”attendance at school”). NOT(“public education”=”compulsory attendance at schools operated by dues-paying members of the HSTA/HGEA/UPW cartel”).
In Hong Kong and Ireland, over 90% of students take tax subsidies to independent and parochial schools. In Belgium and the Netherlands, more than 70%.
In Hawaii, juvenile arrests FALL in summer, when school is NOT in session. Juvenile hospitalizations for human-induced trauma FALL in summer, when school is NOT in session.
Government schools don’t prevent crime, they cause it.
How much out every $ dollar spent on public education, is used to pay all teachers/principals salaries, health and retirement benefits? 30% ?? — 40% ??? Anyone know?
As a former member of the HSTA and an advocate for teachers, HSTA did you consult your membership prior to conjuring up this proposal? Probably not. You think negative publicity is wise when negotiating a contract? What do you think will happen if you double the property taxes on my rental properties? You get negative feedback from the wealthy and the working poor who will have their rents raised. Teachers need to get rid of HSTA. This is the union that supported Lingle’s Democratic challenger (who had no chance of winning) in a contract year. This is the union that told teachers Abercrombie’s 1% raise was the best they were going to get in the last contract which turned out to be incorrect as always.
Teachers are wrong wrong…. they union needs to be changed.
Sorry, this is the price of “free” preschool and regular school.
Keolu lies… there is no DOE preschool.
(Star-Advertiser): “Nationally, state averages for per-pupil spending on instruction and support services at public schools ranged from a high of $20,610 in New York to a low of $6,500 in Utah during fiscal 2014, the most recent Census data show. Hawaii’s spending was at $12,458 that year, above the national average for states of $11,009.
When broken down to the school district level, however, Hawaii — the 10th largest district in the nation — fares worse. An analysis of per-pupil expenditures among the nation’s largest school districts ranked Hawaii 227th for per-pupil funding.”
The reporter (accidentally) makes two worthwhile points here:
1. Beyond a very low level, there is no relation between per pupil budget and overall system performance. Top-performing US States are not top-spending States. Top-performing countries are not top-spending countries.
2. Hawaii’s single, State-wide school district is too big. Across the US, per-pupil budgets rise and performance falls as districts increase in size.
Agree, contrary to the myth lack of funding is often and excuse by poor management. While additional funding may help there needs to be a specific plan and accountability system lest we throw more good money after bad. What is the DOE/BOE funding needs and plan? What are they going to do to become better, faster, cheaper?
3. On the contrary… Hawaii does better than other large districts because it spends less. Many large metropolitan school districts spend more because they have more problems than does Hawaii.
4. We are really talking about averages and Hawaii spends a tiny bit more than the average because we provide better work benefits than most other school districts. We treat our retirees very well. They’ve paid their dues.
Ask Rosenlee the hard question. How much teacher pay is enough? He won’t give an answer because they always want more. There will always to twist it to have it seem like teachers don’t make enough, like cost of living adjustments. Remember, everyone in Hawaii is under what they call cost of living. They want to be paid more than other professionals who work 12 months and without the generous benefits. And please don’t say that they work 12 months and around the clock. I was an engineer and a teacher. Believe me, teachers have it way easier. Shorter days, less work days a year, more autonomy. I took courses and workshops during summers but that still left me with a lot of days off, and it was optional. If many teachers tried to work under private companies they would not survive. Been there.
It’s bad enough that the Schools want more money every year. EVERY SIGNLE YEAR! But now they want to tap the counties primary Constitutional tax source — the real property taxes. The counties do NOT fund education in Hawaii as everybody knows and trying to hit their exclusive revenue source is a ridiculous proposal by the Schools. At the same time, everybody else wants a slice of the property tax pie. HART wants it for Rail which is also ridiculous. GIVE US TAXPAYERS A BREAK!
Why doesn’t our legislature and governor do their job and provide the funds for teachers. Instead they make teachers look bad, asking for higher taxes. We have a useless Governor and Legislature that love political games.
Again, the problem is not HSTA, its the bloated bureaucracy!
Throwing more money at the problem has not resulted in the DOE being more effective in teaching our kids. The DOE already receives the most money of all state agencies.
Where is all that money going if it is not reaching the schools and the classrooms where the rubber meets the road.
For the last 50 years, the DOE has been spending money on program and consultants which sounded good but were total waste of money. Wonder just what the
soup de jour is this year for the DOE bureaucrats. There seems to be a very big disconnect between the schools, teachers and the DOE bureaucracy and the bureaucracy
is so large that they seem only interested in maintaining their existence and not focused on helping the schools and teachers.
I was hoping that the Governor would start to clean out the bureaucracy but nothing so far.
What the union is not telling you is that as property taxes go up so do rental rates. For those who are renters, be aware of that the next time you vote. Landlords will pass on this added cost to you, the renters.
It’s a vicious cycle. These “D” devout unions have no clue despite their PhD educations in Libtard politics that $crew!ng the taxpayers will comeback to bite them in the a$$! LOL
Yup, have two investment properties, the rent will be going up about $200 a month to pay the extra property taxes. I guess the average person does not know that I pay GET on the rents and property taxes. Keep on taxing me, I have deep pockets.
then the unions will say the teachers need another raise so the new teachers can afford the higher rents that was caused by their tax plan.
Agree that education needs to be funded seriously, and teachers educated, trained, and paid like professionals. Then they wouldn’t need a union, just a professional association, like lawyers have. I would suggest raising the tax on high-end investment properties (over $1 million) much higher, to discourage investors from upscaling all housing here to unaffordable. Vouchers don’t solve anything–they just take money away from public schools and give it to inexperienced, unsupervised start-ups that are often scams. Then they go bust and students are out on the street. Let the teachers be professional, and have the major say in how classes are taught.
When will the Legislature put on the ballot a constitutional amendment to get rid of public sector unions?
The legislature is owned by public sector unions.
As i commented yesterday, there is no teacher shortage if we get all those qualified DOE teachers who are in District, adult community, & State level positions back into the classroom. The public deserves a unbiased audit by a 3rd party not connected to the State, to uncover all the wasted non school positions. They create new district/state positions to help new teachers, just put those teachers back into the schools and have them teach students and also be a mentor to new teachers.
new positions to decide how many pencils to buy, then another position to decide what type of pencils to buy, then another position to figure out where to buy it from, them finally another new position to go and buy the pencils. lol
I know, how about a 50% tax on teachers’ salaries to pay for the fantasy wishes of teachers….
I ABSOLUTLY will not support this tax initiative. I have a rental property, but still cannot collect enough rent to cover the mortgage, maintenance fees, repairs and association fees. I could not afford a tax so huge. I would have to raise the rent which would have a ripple down affect to middle-income renters who are probably already struggling with their finances. I would do anything to help crush this initiative into the ground.
Can somebody tell me of the 13500 HSTA members, how much is the number of teachers in the classroom?
Just “love” the sub-headline – Going after speculators- Since when is renting out an average priced home speculation?
Noticed the proposed amendment language. Makes it sound like a great thing with no specifics and no mention of adverse effects – higher rents.
So for a median priced home $700,000 -$3150 more a year just for teacher pay. And guess who’s going to pay it – the renter.
No way this should happen. The legislators need the power of the purse to ensure the state funded agencies do the will of the people. If they get a constitutional amendment they become autonomous and given how well they run things already we do not want that.