Honolulu -- Hawaii public school teachers visited state lawmakers today, urging them to sign a card pledging their support to fund the agreement reached by the Association and the Board of Education that would end furloughs for the remainder of the 2009-2010 school year and the 2010-2011 school year. Both houses of the legislature have passed measures that could fund the agreement. However, the amount of funding remains unresolved.

"We're here at the Capitol to encourage the legislators to do their part to end furloughs. On March 31, HSTA members overwhelmingly approved the agreement by a vote of 84.5 percent in favor of the agreement to 13.5 percent who were opposed. Now that we’ve approved the agreement between HSTA and the employer, it's the legislature's turn to act," said HSTA President Wil Okabe.

Okabe added, “We are pleased with the reception most legislators have given to our teachers. Teachers will continue to talk with legislators next week, so we don’t have a pledge card tally. We will be publicly acknowledging and thanking those legislators who pledge their support for our agreement with the employer.”

The agreement was negotiated under the terms of HRS 89-6(e). Under this section of the law, the Board of Education is the employer. If one year of the agreement is funded, but the other year is not funded, the terms for the year that is funded will be implemented.

For instance, funding could be appropriated and released for the next school year but not for the current school year. If this happened, the four furlough Fridays scheduled for the current year would take place as scheduled. However, next year all student furlough days would be eliminated, as the proposed supplemental agreement would be implemented only for that year. This would be accomplished by funding eleven (11) teacher workdays. The remaining six (6) furlough days would be taken on non-instructional days.

The agreement covers all members of Bargaining Unit 5. HSTA did not and would not agree to any proposal that treats some members of the bargaining unit differently than other bargaining unit members. The agreement also provides that it is subject to the Board of Education reaching “corresponding agreements” with exclusive representatives of other affected bargaining units.

The HSTA recognizes that it cannot negotiate for other bargaining units. The HSTA negotiating team insisted that all school level personnel and services be provided on all student school days. In particular, the negotiations team required that the Department of Education (DOE) provide administrative support and services related to health and safety. BOE/DOE negotiators indicated that to provide the needed services, they would need to have agreements with the other unions.

About the Hawaii State Teachers Association
The Hawaii State Teachers Association is the exclusive representative of more than 13,000 public school teachers statewide. As the state affiliate of the 3.2-million member National Education Association, HSTA assists teachers with collective bargaining, legislative, and professional development issues.