Learn how much money you would lose without annual automatic steps
Updated: April 16, 2026
HSTA’s new online salary calculator allows our members to see how much money they will lose over a 25-year career without guaranteed annual step pay increases, which is the norm in the vast majority of other school districts across the country. A recent independent salary study released by HIDOE last fall confirmed the importance of annual step movements and emphasized them as a viable option to address Hawaiʻi’s teacher shortage crisis.
Right now, educators in Hawaiʻi are not automatically given a step increase each year, and those raises must be negotiated at the bargaining table. Teachers in the islands generally have received a step increase every other year.
Use the drop-down menu to enter three key pieces of information to determine how much money you are losing with every-other-year step increases instead of annual step movements:
- Whether they are 10-month or 12-month teachers
- Their class (Class II through Class VIII)
- Their step (4 through 14B)
Need to find your class and step? Toward the end of every school year, HIDOE sends a link to each teacher’s HIDOE email address containing their personnel action form (Form 5) for the next school year, along with all their previous Form 5s for reference. The link does not expire.
The output will provide your projected salary loss without automatic step increases over a 25-year career in Hawaiʻi.
HSTA created this calculator based on a new business item, which was approved at the 2025 HSTA State Convention. Maui Chapter member John Fitzpatrick authored the proposal.
As of mid April, a bill that would provide automatic annual step increases for public and charter school teachers was still alive this legislative session and headed to the conference committee. In conference, House and Senate negotiators have to work out the final details, and no written or oral testimony is accepted. The HSTA expects to hear more updates on HB1890 as the session winds down on May 8.