HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1511
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO TEACHER COMPENSATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that teachers are the most important professionals responsible for advancing children's learning. Yet numerous studies have shown that when teacher salaries are adjusted for cost of living, Hawaii's teachers are the lowest paid educators in the nation on average. A 2020 study conducted by Augenblick, Palaich and Associates Consulting on behalf of the department of education found that when compared with other high-cost geographic locations, pay for the State's teachers lagged by a range of about $7,700 to just over $26,000, once cost of living was properly accounted for, and depending on length of service.

The legislature additionally finds that low teacher pay negatively impacts the State's ability to recruit and retain highly skilled classroom leaders. According to the department of education's 2021 Strategic Plan Dynamic Report for the 2021-2022 school year, forty-nine per cent of Hawaii's teachers are leaving the profession within their first five years of service. Furthermore, the report reveals that the State's teacher shortage currently stands at eight hundred eighty-six positions overall, of which two hundred thirty positions are in the content area of special education. To ensure that all of Hawaii's keiki are given access to a high-quality education, it is essential to resolve the State's chronic teacher shortage and ensure that all classrooms are staffed by qualified educators.

The legislature finds that teacher salaries are unequal when experienced senior teachers are aligned with less senior teachers in their placement within the existing salary schedules. The legislature also finds that over eight thousand seven hundred public school teachers are currently being underpaid because they were not granted step increases or pay raises when the State was facing the economic challenges of the Great Recession during the late 2000s. Additionally, unfair pay scales have driven experienced senior teachers to either retire early or leave the profession due to the perception that their experience and dedication to public education and the teaching profession will never be adequately valued nor recognized.

The purpose of this Act is to address compensation equity issues and make the necessary discretionary salary adjustments for approximately eight thousand seven hundred teachers by funding an experimental modernization project pursuant to section 78-3.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that recognizes the professional service of these senior teachers to the department of education through discretionary salary adjustments.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $57,600,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2022-2023 for an experimental modernization project pursuant to section 78-3.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to address compensation equity issues and make the necessary discretionary salary adjustments for approximately eight thousand seven hundred teachers whose current base salary does not reflect their years of professional service.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2022.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Education; Teacher Compensation; Discretionary Salary Adjustments; Experimental Modernization Project; Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates funds for an experimental modernization project to address compensation equity issues and make necessary salary adjustments for senior teachers whose current base salary does not reflect their years of professional service.

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