The Hawai‘i State Teachers Association announced it reached a tentative settlement late Friday with the state of Hawaii and the Board of Education for a new four-year contract.
According to an HSTA news release, the union’s Negotiations Committee recommended the agreement to the board of directors, which voted to approve it during special meetings Saturday, sending it to the bargaining unit membership for ratification. The tentative agreement would run from July 1 through June 30, 2027, the news release said.
“We really have not had a chance to make substantive changes to contract language since 2013,” said HSTA President Osa Tui Jr. in the release. “This round of bargaining was the most collaborative I’ve experienced in my decade of negotiations with the employer. We’re also extremely grateful to Gov. Josh Green, who joined us on the last day of bargaining and actively helped to clear some of the logjams that remained.”
In a statement released Sunday, Green said, “I feel that providing excellent public education for Hawaii’s keiki is critical to all that we hope to accomplish in our state. One of the best ways to improve our education system is to respect our teachers with better wages and opportunities to advance professionally.”
Added Green, “This four-year agreement will help alleviate our teacher shortage. It will be easier to recruit new teachers and much easier to retain veteran educators. My goal going into this complex negotiation was to finally send the signal that Hawaii truly values its teachers. I hope we have achieved that with this deal.”
The agreement includes salary increases in each of the next four years as well as increases in the employer contribution to health premiums, supplementary pay and changes in the salary structure, as well as streamlining and expanding instructor pay on the schedule, the news release said.
A vote on the tentative contract is set for April 26.
Teacher salaries will increase by an average of more than $10,000 over the four years, the teachers union said. It also said 21 hours of professional development will be permanently incorporated into the contract.
Additional improvements in teacher working conditions, travel, assignments and transfer, due process and teacher protections are included in the agreement, the news release said. The agreement also calls for the creation or continuation of a series of work groups to address important issues relating to career and technical education, Hawaiian education, transfers, leave, student discipline and English learners.
HSTA 2023 2027 Member Settlement Summary by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd
Correction: HSTA said teacher salaries will increase by an average of more than $10,000 over the four years of a proposed new contract. A previous version of this story said the contract would raise teacher salaries $10,000 annually.
