Editorial: Find viable ways to hike teacher pay

Volumes of pedagogical research and the recollection of countless former students tell us that key to success in the classroom is the guiding force of an able teacher. In Hawaii, that force for student learning and achievement is undermined by a chronic teacher shortage.

In recent years, the statewide roster of upwards of 13,500 teaching positions in public schools has included more than 1,000 emergency hires — typically instructors lacking complete license credentials — and long-term substitute teachers.

In an apparent effort to fend off more shortfall, the state Department of Education last month boosted pay in the shortage areas of special education, Hawaiian immersion, and in remote, hard-to-staff schools. While the annual “pay differentials,” ranging from $3,000 to $10,000 a year, were backed by Gov. David Ige, they still need to be funded in the next fiscal year.

Addressing this cart-before-the-horse tactic is Senate Bill 2488, which appropriates a total of $25 million, which may be used to cover the price tag for the set pay differentials or to alter the state’s teacher salary schedule to better account for years of experience, thereby deterring senior teachers from leaving.

While the bill could be supported as a stopgap measure targeting especially hard-hit teaching positions, moving forward, the Legislature, which holds the purse strings for school funding, should not tolerate a tactic that borders on coercion.

Support for SB 2488 is bolstered by a new teacher compensation study that compares Hawaii with groups of school districts, including some that are similar in size, and others contending with similar high-cost-of-living challenges. With cost-of-living factored in, Hawaii’s average teacher salaries fall behind — ranging from just under $8,000 to over $26,000 below the comparison group averages.

The average salary for licensed teachers in Hawaii’s public schools is currently $68,000 a year.

In another takeaway from the compensation study, the DOE cities “compression of salaries for experienced educators” as a problem — due to a pay scale that’s union-negotiated by the Hawaii State Teacher Association rather than tied to years of experience. For example, it’s now possible for two similarly licensed teachers, one with 12 years of experience and the other with 21 years, to have the same salary.

Together, cost-of-living challenges and salary compression contribute to a evolving-door trend in the classroom. In recent years the state has reported that its retention rate for new teachers — educators who stay on the job for five years — hovered near 55%.

HawaiiKidsCAN, an education advocacy nonprofit, conducted its own independent analysis of the DOE-commissioned teacher compensation study. Among its proposed ground rules for tackling Hawaii’s compensation quandary: front-loading of salary increases.

That means “changing salary scales so sharper increases are pushed forward, providing new and growing teachers a greater opportunity to manage Hawaii’s cost of living early on,” according to HawaiiKidsCAN. That’s a sensible move, as is the group’s call to step up pay for “master teachers,” who see success in their classrooms and can also help mentor acclimating malihini teachers.

The compensation study pointed out that over the past eight years, the proportion of teachers who are new to the profession working in Hawaii has increased to nearly 7%.

Some 180,000 children are enrolled in the state’s public schools. The persistent teacher shortage is shortchanging them.

Because teachers should be compensated fairly and competitively for the complicated work in helping Hawaii’s children reach their potential, lawmakers and education leaders must continue to pursue viable solutions. But these should be done in a strategic, comprehensive way, not with piecemeal budgeting.