STAND. COM. REP. NO. 475

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 1250

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Labor and Education and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1250 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOL SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Board of Education to develop a classification/compensation plan for substitute teachers' pay commensurate with their educational training and academic qualifications.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Education (DOE), the Hawaii State Teachers Association – Retired, and two individuals. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Laborers' International Union of North America Local 368, AFL-CIO; Substitute Teachers Professional Alliance; and five individuals.

Your Committees find that the Legislature, in 1996, adopted Act 89, Session Laws of Hawaii 1996, and intended that substitute teachers be paid a specific per diem rate based on the annual entry salary step rate established for licensed Class II teachers, with increases based on the most current teachers’ salary schedule. In so doing, the Legislature intended that this single rate for substitute teachers would increase as licensed teachers’ raises were negotiated, ensuring that the pay for substitute teachers would increase fairly over time.

Your Committees further find that the DOE has failed to pay the required per diem rate required in section 320A-624(e), Hawaii Revised Statutes. Since 1996, the pay for a new Class II teacher has increased by more than forty percent, from approximately $25,436 to $36,851. During that same period, substitute teachers’ pay has risen from $100.94 to only $112.53 – barely eleven percent. Your Committees believes that it was clearly not the intent of the Legislature to have such a disparity in pay increases between substitute teachers and licensed teachers. Substitute teachers are essential to the efficient and effective operation of our public schools; however, they have not been getting their due under the current law.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Ensuring that the minimum per diem rate for substitute teachers is based on the current per diem rate formula in section 302A-624(e), Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(2) Specifying that the Board of Education may utilize a list of criteria in determining the compensation rate beyond the minimum per diem rate for substitute teachers;

(3) Including language to specify that the appropriation for retroactive pay owed to the substitute teachers shall be utilized to pay for in the class action lawsuits of Garner v. Department of Education (Civil No. 03-1-000305), and Kliternick v. Hamamoto (Civil No. 05-1-0031-01); and

(4) Changing the effective date of the Act to July 1, 2050, and section 3 of the Act to take effect on July 1, 2060, in order to facilitate further discussion on the matter.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Labor and Education and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1250, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1250, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Labor and Education and Military Affairs,

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NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair

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BRIAN KANNO, Chair