Report Title:

Teacher Salaries

 

Description:

Makes an appropriation to the DOE to raise the average salary of public school teachers in Hawaii, adjusted for cost of living, to the national average.

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

133

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

making an appropriation to raise the average salary of public school teachers in Hawaii, adjusted for cost of living, to the national average.

 

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

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that public school teachers are being lured away from Hawaii by the promise of better paying positions in other states. This is contributing to the shortage of qualified teachers in Hawaii and forcing public school principals to hire full-time, under-qualified substitute teachers instead. The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future concluded that students achieve at higher levels and are less likely to drop out of school when they are taught by teachers with certification in their field, by teachers with master’s degrees, and by teachers enrolled in graduate studies.

According to the American Federation of Teachers, Hawaii residents pay approximately thirty-three per cent more for housing, transportation, and food than the rest of the nation. The American Federation of Teachers reports that the average teacher’s salary for the nation was $40,574 for the 1998-1999 time period. The American Federation of Teachers also reports that the average teacher’s salary for Hawaii (i.e., $40,416), adjusted for cost of living, was $30,388 for the same time period.

Consequently, the purpose of this Act is to make an appropriation to the department of education to raise the average salary of public school teachers in Hawaii, adjusted for cost of living, to the national average.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002, to raise the average salary of public school teachers in Hawaii, adjusted for cost of living, to the national average.

SECTION 3. The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.

INTRODUCED BY:

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