Thanks to HSTA contract, new school year brings a raise for most teachers

Most public and charter school teachers will see a pay raise at the start of the 2025–2026 school year under the current Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association contract. Teachers on Steps 5 through 14A of the salary schedules will move up one step within their classification, effective the first working day of the school year. See Exhibits D and DD on pages 79 and 80 of the HSTA contract for those salary schedules. 

After working a full pay period, ten-month teachers will see the increase reflected in their Aug. 20 paychecks. This means 12-month and multi-track teachers should have seen the increase starting in their July 18 paychecks. 

A step increase is equivalent to a 3% salary hike, except for those moving from 14A to 14B and transitioning to the last step, which results in a 6% pay raise. 

Important note: the step movement applies only to those who are continuing active employment and on a paid status on the first working day of the upcoming school year, July 29. Teachers who previously held a Bargaining Unit 05 position but have since resigned must return to employment on or before the first workday to qualify. Thus, re-employed ten-month employees who report after the first working day (July 29), even if they previously worked in BU 05, will not be eligible for the step movement.

Additionally, new hires who start their employment during the 2025–2026 school year will not receive a step movement and will remain on their initial step for the entire year.

Regular step movements acknowledge the increased skill, competence, and professional knowledge that come with experience. They also prevent salary compression which, if not regularly bargained, results in swaths of employees with varying years of service who are not at the top of the pay scale earning similar pay.

Teachers on the top step, Step 14B, who are not eligible for further step movement, will instead receive a one-time $3,000 lump-sum payment. Members with questions about eligibility should contact their school-level HSTA representative or UniServ Director.

Under the contract, the 2025-2026 school year will bring a significant victory for our most experienced educators, since the salary schedule will be amended to create a Class VIII, with 4% of a raise higher than Class VII. Currently, more than 4,500 teachers are at Class VII and will begin moving to Class VIII this fall. 

“The establishment of Class VIII is a significant win that our members have been asking for for so many years,” said HSTA President Osa Tui, Jr. 

“Many felt we would never see Class VIII, but with our efforts legislatively and at the bargaining table, and with our strength in numbers, this goal is finally a reality. We will need this unity in the future to secure even more wins as we work towards securing the schools our keiki deserve!” Tui added.

Coursework completed before the beginning of this school year can be submitted before early October to still qualify for reclassification for this semester including a retroactive pay increase to the start of the semester.

Effective the first working day of the next school year, 2026-2027, teachers will receive an across-the-board increase of 3.5% in the last year of the four-year contract reached in April 2023, an agreement overwhelmingly approved by HSTA members and subsequently funded by the state Legislature that same month.