Given the state’s projected $1.5 billion budget shortfall, is it reasonable for the governor to consider furloughs of teachers as well as other government employees?

Gov. David Ige claims he has no choice but to implement furloughs. This is not true. He has options other than furloughs.

At the end of this fiscal year, on June 30, 2021, the state will have an estimated $546 million surplus. When you add in other reserve funds, the surplus total climbs to $614 million. By comparison, the governor’s furloughs would save a little more than $140 million over the next six months, an amount that would easily be absorbed by the state’s current surplus.

The state will not go bankrupt if furloughs are not implemented immediately. The Legislature has authorized the governor to borrow $2.1 billion to weather this crisis, and he still has $1.3 billion available. A bipartisan congressional stimulus proposal currently being negotiated contains $54 billion for K-12 schools across the country. Hawaii legislative leaders have publicly stated that it is too early for furloughs and they are trying to find other solutions. The governor should give the Legislature and Congress time to approve another stimulus bill or find other ways to increase revenue.

How would you characterize the governor’s implementation of furloughs and possible layoffs?

Teachers have seen years of the ill effects of an unfortunate trend in Hawaii: When there is an economic downturn, governors have cut teacher pay and education funding. Ige would be the third governor in a row to cut teacher pay: Ige (furloughs), Neil Abercrombie (imposed contract), Linda Lingle (furloughs). Hawaii must stop a troubling trend of shortchanging our keiki’s education when there is an economic downturn.

The American Educational Research Association found “the Great Recession and subsequent shock to school spending was associated with significant declines in student academic achievement … (with) school districts serving higher concentrations of low-income and minority students experienced greater declines in achievement from school-age exposure to the recession.” As many parents would attest, we would rather suffer than let our children suffer. Education must be sacrosanct even during a recession.

What have been the teachers’ main concerns about the DOE’s one-day-a-month furlough plan?

The 2009 recession and subsequent furloughs directly led to Hawaii’s teacher shortage crisis — the state Department of Education falls short in finding 1,000 qualified teachers every year. Our veteran teachers are still struggling with the impacts of the previous recession. Mid-career public school teachers in Hawaii earn $18,000 to $30,000 less than their counterparts in similar districts across the country, and according to DOE annual reports, many end up leaving the state altogether. Furthermore, the number of Hawaii college graduates with education degrees has dropped by 37% over the past decade. Teaching is no longer considered an attractive, stable profession. Teachers believe that education and our keiki have become too easy to cut. Other countries consider it shameful to cut school funding, yet we have another Hawaii governor planning to do it again.

There’s evidence that online learning causes academic performance to deteriorate. How can teachers address this problem?

Educators know that in-person learning is superior to online learning, and although some students have risen to the challenge, others have struggled. Our students need more emotional support, one-on-one attention, and help from our counselors. For those reasons, teachers worry some students will fall further behind with planned budget cuts reducing the number of counselors and increasing class sizes.

During this pandemic, educators have risen to the challenge and reinvented how they teach, spending many hours redoing lessons and pivoting to virtual instruction. The deterioration you’re seeing is caused by many factors beyond the school’s control, but that never stops teachers from innovating solutions. Teachers have been finding creative ways to celebrate learning and enrich lessons with guest speakers and virtual field trips.

Since the spring, HSTA has provided resources that teachers can use in their classrooms on our main webpage. We offer multiple professional development courses focusing on assessment, Google tools, and curriculum-based training. We continually send our members information to support them as they look for additional training and we are organizing a virtual conference to support our newer teachers.

Will HSTA push for teachers and/or students to get the COVID-19 vaccine?

Currently, teachers are part of Phase 2 of the vaccination priority list, and children fall into Phase 3. We feel it’s important that as many educators and staff get vaccinated as soon as possible to help protect our communities from the disease. Students, parents and educators will be happier when school can return to normal, and vaccines will help restore that normalcy.

This pandemic has highlighted many critical functions of our schools beyond the vital need to learn. It has exposed how many students depend on public schools for meals and societal safety nets.

Everyone wants our keiki back in schools, especially our teachers. Many teachers have expressed how much they miss their kids. There is a reason why we became teachers: We love working with children.

THE BIO FILE

>> Position: President, Hawaii State Teachers Association

>> Professional background: National board-certified social studies teacher; taught public high school for more than 20 years at Kaiser, Kailua, McKinley, Roosevelt and most recently at Campbell High School.

>> Educational background: Graduate of Kaiser High and the University of Hawaii-Manoa; undergraduate degree in history and a master of education in teaching.

>> Personal background: Born and raised on Oahu, lives in Ewa with his wife, a university professor, and daughter, a senior at Campbell High School.