21 hours return in SY 2022–23 for HIDOE, public charter schools

The Hawaii State Teachers Association this week reached an agreement with Schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi and Gov. David Ige to restore 21 hours of job-embedded professional development (PD), including both the return of the paid time and three PD credits. This agreement applies to all Bargaining Unit 05 employees both at Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE) and public charter schools. The HSTA has been in contact with the Charter School Commission and will reach out to each charter school administration to notify them of the reinstatement.

No modifications were made to the requirements, rules, and procedures for 21 hours.

Twenty-one hours of job-embedded personal development were not implemented during the 2021–22 school year due to pandemic-related budget restrictions. However, both the HSTA and the employer recognized the importance of 21 hours and committed to restore its funding for the second year of the HSTA 2021–23 collective bargaining agreement.

The Hawaii State Legislature also saw the value of paying teachers for on-the-job professional development and approved a bill to restore the funding for SY 2022–23. After the governor signed the bill into law, HSTA and the employer quickly began discussions to restore 21 hours.

The agreement still needs to be approved by the Board of Education, however, approvals by the superintendent and governor allow 21 hours to be implemented without BOE Chair Bruce Voss’s signature. We fully expect the Board to support the agreement at its regular monthly meeting on Aug. 18.

Reminders when scheduling 21 hours

As previously required, schools must utilize an open, democratic, and collaborative process between the school’s teacher leadership group and administration to determine when and how the 21 hours will be scheduled. In addition, members should note the memorandum of understanding (MOU) requires differentiation in the use of the hours: “it is essential to provide differentiation in the types and uses of the job-embedded professional development as it relates to individual teacher performance and experience.”

When scheduling 21 hours, administrators must comply with the MOU by scheduling PD in one-hour increments and providing a minimum of one week notification to employees prior to scheduling any of the 21 hours. In no event shall the workday extend beyond 4:30 p.m.

Finally, as has occurred in the past, 21 hours are incorporated into the salary schedules for SY 2022–23 to reflect the additional compensation for this extra work. The new salary schedules are listed below.

View: 10-month salary schedule | 12-month salary schedule

The HIDOE has begun to issue updated Form 5s to employees via their work email accounts. Teachers can begin to see nearly 1.5% in increased pay shortly thereafter.

HIDOE releases memo, attachments

Click below to view the following memo, issued July 29, 2022, and attachments: