Hold off on pay raise for superintendent

Paul LeMahieu has a valid point about the salary for Hawaii’s state schools superintendent. It’s his job right now, and its current compensation of $90,041 per year – the figure it’s been at since 1998 – isn’t enough to attract and keep a top-flight superintendent, he believes.

But the Hawai’i State Teachers Association has an even stronger point. The teachers’ union is seeking a new contract with raises totaling 22 percent over four years. Governor Ben Cayetano insists that’s more than the state can afford. If that’s the case, the union says, then the superintendent’s raise is a bad idea, too.

Agreed.

Although a raise for the superintendent to as much as $150,000 has been authorized by the Legislature and was scheduled for discussion this week by the state Board of Education, now is not the time for it, for obvious reasons. Now is the time, however, for the board, the superintendent, legislators and Cayetano to demonstrate an we’re-all-in-this-together attitude if they want the union members to follow.

Wisely, LeMahieu has said he understands the union’s resentment of a potentially hefty pay boost for his job when the union members aren’t getting encouraging responses to their raise request.

But he also has said a higher salary for the superintendent would show commitment by the state that education is “valued,” and that’s where the union’s position trumps: First take care of the teachers, the front-line educators.

If image is important, then the right image is to put a reasonably higher value on teachers, too.