HONOLULU — In a virtual conference on Friday, the state Senate Education Committee chair and the House Education Committee chair said they stand with the Hawai‘i State Teachers Association regarding new federal funds arriving, saying the funds should go to teachers first instead of tutors.
Both legislative committees noted a strong desire to help with the decisions of where new federal funding should be dispersed, and each stand behind respective proposed bills.
Senate Bill 270 and House Bill 613 would appropriate $104 million in 2022 and 2023.
“The purpose of (the bill is) offsetting budget reductions to personnel who are employed at the school level,” said Senate Education Committee Chair Michelle Kidani.
“The bill specifically targets budget reductions that would have resulted in layoffs, furloughs or pay reductions. The money will be released to the Department of Education after the Board of Education and superintendent certify that they agree to the use uses of the funds as outlined in these bills.”
Kidani said because there are concerns that proposals by the DOE do not prioritize the needs of Hawai‘i’s students, HB613 and SB270 ensure and direct federal funding to ensure that students can count on having the necessary school staff there to welcome them back to campus.
“It’s about focusing on our students’ achievements and success to get our students back on track,” Kidani said. “ We have seen from school financial plans that the personnel to be cut include critical staff, like teachers, school counselors, one-on-one special education staff and janitorial staff.
“These are critical positions to addressing the needs of our students. And if we want to get them back on track, we need to make sure that these positions are filled,” Kidani said.
House Education Committee Chair Justin Woodson echoed Senate Chair Kidani and spoke about the bottom line.
“What we are saying is that for any money that comes out from the federal government, that we want to prioritize those funds to protect teacher employment, because if we protect teacher employment, ultimately we are protecting our future,” said Justin Woodson, chair of the House Education Committee. “And the bill allows the state Legislature to have a formal role in that very-important discussion.”
“I just want to thank you to all the senators, especially Senator Kidani, Senator Dela Cruz, and the house, Representative Luke, Representative Woodson, who have worked so hard on this one to make sure that we can support our keiki and support education in Hawai‘i,” said Corey Rosenlee, HSTA president.
With the current budget in place, HSTA expects to lose 700 teachers across the state and over 1,000 employees due to layoffs, and HSTA would like to see the new federal funds coming in be used to keep teachers employed, Rosenlee said.
“At the same time, we’re looking at pay cuts of over 9% to all of our daily employees,” Rosenlee said. “This will have a devastating impact on our schools and to our keiki. We know from what’s projected, this could mean higher class sizes, a lot of programs being cut. And, more importantly, it’s just we cannot turn out the teachers that we need every single year to fill up the gap.
“And we already have a shortage of 1,000 teachers. If we do this, on top of that, I deeply fear what could be the long-term impact to our schools and to our keiki.”
Dr. Christina Kishimoto, DOE superintendent, has suggested using federal stimulus money for tutors and for summer school.
“It makes no sense to fire teachers and hire tutors,” Rosenlee said.
Kidani said Wednesday there will be a Senate hearing at 3 p.m. to review SB270, and Woodson said the House will review HB613 on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
“On Kaua‘i, we’ve always had a hard time keeping teachers,” Rosenlee said. “And it’s not something that quickly can be replaced. We’ve already heard from teachers across the state that when they’re looking at layoffs, they’re just going to leave teaching. And so the long-term impact, especially for places like Kaua‘i, is if these teachers leave, you know, it’s really hard to replace them.
“And so I think what this bill does, it ensures our teachers that they have positions. And I think the long-term impact is going to make sure that these kids on Kaua‘i and across the state actually have teachers,” Rosenlee said.
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Stephanie Shinno, features, education, business, and community reporter can be reached at 245-0424 or sshinno@thegardenisland.com.
Um, of course HSTA want the funds to go to the teachers…teachers pay union dues to HSTA, so the funds essentially filter back to HSTA.
HSTA is one of the biggest rackets going in Hawaii. And they have somehow successfully convinced Ige (and Kawakami here in Kauai) to keep all our public schools closed for a solid year now, with students only receiving a fraction of their rights to in-class learning while schools, teachers, HSTA and the DOE continue to receive 100% of their government funding/salaries.
The math simply doesn’t add up…but this is Hawaii public education we’re talking about, so I wouldn’t expect anyone to be able to do the math correctly.