TEACHER CONTRACT DOWN TO THE WIRE

A proposed two-year contract for public school teachers that could be
ratified today would make Hawai'i one of few school districts
nationwide to call for random teacher drug testing, state union officials said.

"Not very many school districts have random drug testing," said Joan
Husted, executive director of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association.
"Most states didn't know of any collective bargaining agreements (for
teachers) that had random drug testing, but there may be local laws."

Some Mainland teacher contracts call for testing when there is a
reasonable suspicion, according to the National Education
Association, which represents 2 million teachers nationwide.
Pennsylvania has the most school districts -- 14 -- where teacher
contracts include drug testing based on reasonable suspicion.

NEA research also shows that state law in North Carolina allows any
employer -- including school districts -- to drug-test prospective or
current employees as a condition of hiring or continued employment.

A decision is expected as early as 6:30 p.m. today on whether the
state's approximately 13,000 public school teachers approved their
proposed contract, which includes clauses that would allow drug
testing both randomly and based on reasonable suspicion.

It also provides for a 4 percent raise in each of the two years, plus
a step increase for all but new hires this year and the highest paid
teachers who are already at top scale.

Union officials last week said about 1,900 absentee ballots were
still outstanding after nearly nearly 8,000 people cast ballots on
the contract at 25 polling places statewide on Thursday. The deadline
is 5 p.m. today for people to turn in absentee ballots.

Last week's voting was too close to call, with the decision hinging
on a final tally today of the absentee ballots.

HSTA President Roger Takabayashi said yesterday that the random
drug-testing provision is probably the "main" sticking point for
teachers who have voted against the contract.

"That's the single issue that is probably forcing the no vote,"
Takabayashi said.

The proposed contract would raise starting pay for new teachers from
$39,901 to $43,157. For teachers with about 15 years of experience, a
master's degree and some additional credit hours, annual pay would
increase from $59,566 to $66,359 by the end of the contract. For the
most experienced teachers with more than 33 years experience, pay
would rise from $73,197 to $79,170.

Takabayashi said the HSTA expects a 60 percent turnout for the
contract ratification vote, including absentee ballots.

The drug-testing provisions in the proposed contract include testing
that is random and under "reasonable suspicion."

All testing would be done at an independent, certified lab.

For testing under reasonable suspicion, "What (the contract) says is
that if the principal suspects that someone is under the influence of
alcohol or a controlled substance, he calls for a witness to also
observe the behavior and then he can ask the teacher to be tested,"
Husted said.

"The teachers are probably more supportive of the
reasonable-suspicion clause. All of our guidelines have lots of
safeguards. How can you single someone out? As well you have to have
a witness who is willing to sign off that they saw the same behavior."

If the contract is ratified, the protocol for how to carry out random
drug testing still will have to be worked out between the union and
the Department of Education. It would go into effect by June 30, 2008.

"In random drug testing, the parties have to decide how large the
random (sample) will be. The next question -- is it random across the
state, by district? And then, how are you pulling the random sample?
There are software programs to pull random samples."

The contract language calls for testing by an outside laboratory,
specifically noting that principals will not select teachers for
random testing, or administer or read the tests themselves.

Husted said federal law requires workers considered safety personnel
such as firefighters, police officers, prison guards and others to
undergo random drug testing. Critical personnel such as airline
pilots also undergo random drug testing.

According to the NEA, two lower federal court decisions have ruled
that teachers are safety personnel under the law and can be drug
tested. Those decisions have not yet reached the U.S. Supreme Court.