Legislators will fund teachers’ raises while kids ease back into school State Sen. Jonathan Chun has some concerns about public school children – including his own – getting back into learning after 14 school days without professional instruction. By the
Legislators will fund teachers’ raises while kids ease back into school
State Sen. Jonathan Chun has some concerns about public school children – including his own – getting back into learning after 14 school days without professional instruction.
By the time some students get back into the groove of learning, school will be over and summer vacation will be upon us, he observed.
“Children have missed out on lots of (school) time. It will take time to get back into the study mode,” said Chun, who as a senator and parent is happy the strike is over.
“I’m glad that they settled,” said Chun, adding that the settlement amount for the contract ratified yesterday by Hawai’i State Teachers Association members is within the cushion set aside for that purpose in the Senate’s version of the state budget.
Chun, who has a child attending King Kaumuali’i Elementary School, said that during the strike, his children spent time with their grandparents and with his wife, who is at home with their 1-year-old child.
State Rep. Bertha Kawakami, a former teacher and Kaua’i school district deputy superintendent whose office staff includes former district superintendent Amy Maeda, was “elated” to learn of the settlement.
A big group of teachers gathered at the Capitol in Honolulu for a Monday rally and were streaming through Kawakami’s and other legislators’ offices, urging solons to fund the settlement package.
The teachers wanted annual increments and got that, said Kawakami. Retention incentives of $550 a school year, retroactive to 1999-2000, were gained, and for retired or retiring teachers the amounts will be added to retirement pay, Kawakami said, reading from a fact sheet given to legislators regarding the agreement reached between the state and HSTA.
Now Kawakami, vice chairwoman of the House Finance Committee, along with her colleagues can begin the task of funding the raises and estimating how much money will be left for other money bills which, along with other legislation, must move or die by this Friday.
“We’re starting to plug in the figure for the pay raises, and get that settled, and then we can see how much more money and how many more bills we can add,” she said.
“I feel very comfortable” that the Legislature can find room in the state’s two-year, $14 billion budget to fund the raises, said House Speaker Calvin Say.
Teachers returned to their classrooms today for the first time since April 4, the last day of classes before the strike began. Students will go back to class tomorrow.
While businesses and agencies developed innovative ways to accommodate employees who suddenly had to find people to watch their school-aged children during regular public school hours, all of the parents spoken to Tuesday by The Garden Island are glad the strike is over.
“I’m thrilled,” said Tim Bynum, who has a daughter at King Kaumuali’i Elementary School and a son at Kapa’a Middle School.
He said he the teachers got “significant” raises, because he bought into the teachers’ argument about having qualified teachers in every classroom.
During the strike, his daughter kept school-ready by reading and writing and doing school work every day. His son, Bynum continued, would have liked the strike to last longer, as he was enjoying fishing, golfing and other outdoor activities.
Bynum teamed with other parents to provide adult guidance around their work schedules for his and other children.
“I feel so glad. Education is very important,” said Janise Gusman, for whom the strike’s end means not only her children can return to school at King Kaumuali’i, but she can return to work there.
“I’m glad that he’s going back to school, because that’s where he belongs,” Ray Paler said of his son, a student at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School. Paler, owner of Kaua’i Paging & Communications, said he was fortunate to own his own business and able to bring his son to work with him.
Carol Texeira’s children read and did homework while the strike continued, but the household was joyous when word of the strike’s end reached them, she said.
“They’re all excited” about going back to school, Texeira said of her children, who attend Wilcox Elementary and Kaua’i High schools.
“This just went on way too long,” said Doug Chang, manager of the Kaua’i Marriott Resort & Beach Club, which switched employees’ days off and encouraged workers on days off to watch other co-workers’ children to minimize the impact of the strike on one of the island’s largest private employers.
The system worked well, with only a few minor disruptions during periods when the hotel was over 90 percent full, Chang said.
“Occasionally, somebody had to take off to take care of kids, but usually there was enough notice so that it wasn’t a surprise,” he said.
Chang said the end of the strike”is good to see, for the kids, the teachers and everybody.”
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
