TEACHER PACT OKs DRUG TESTS

Hawai'i's 13,000 public school teachers would get 4 percent pay
raises in each of the next two years, and, for the first time, be
subject to random drug testing, under a tentative contract settlement
announced yesterday.

Under terms of the tentative agreement, members of the Hawai'i State
Teachers Association would receive a 4 percent raise at the start of
the next school year, with a step movement in the second semester,
and another 4 percent raise at the start of the second semester in
2008.

If approved by teachers, the settlement could bring salaries of a
newly hired certified teacher with a bachelor's degree and up to six
years' experience to $44,451 per year by the end of the contract in
June 2009.

Teachers who serve as band directors, drama coaches, chorus
directors, grade level chairpersons and agricultural teachers also
would see their supplementary pay increase by 25 percent per year
under the agreement.

As part of a new contract, HSTA agreed to work with the Department of
Education to develop a random drug and alcohol testing program for
all teachers that would be implemented by June 2008. There is no
compulsory drug testing of new DOE hires and no random drug screening
in the current contract.

Gov. Linda Lingle, who announced the agreement last night, said it
was "a fair settlement that recognizes the dedication and hard work
of our teachers."

TEACHERS TO VOTE

HSTA President Roger Takabayashi declined comment on the contract
terms last night, saying he wanted all teachers to have a chance to
see it first.

The union planned to deliver copies of the contracts to all public
schools by Monday and schedule a ratification vote next week, he said.

The agreement was reached late Wednesday night. "It was a long
process," Takabayashi said.

The agreement to allow random drug testing came following the arrests
of at least four school teachers on drug charges in the past year and
increasing calls from parents, lawmakers and others for further action.

Just this week, a Mililani Middle School teacher pleaded no contest
to a charge of third-degree promotion of a detrimental drug, and two
staff members at a Kaua'i school were fired after being arrested on
marijuana promotion charges.

"Such a program will help ensure that schools are safe for students,
faculty and staff, and will increase parents' confidence that their
children are being taught in a drug- and alcohol-free environment,"
Lingle said in a written statement.

"The drug and alcohol testing will also benefit teachers by helping
those who might be identified with problems to get necessary treatment."

While Takabayashi declined to comment on the drug-testing clause last
night, he had said during an Advertiser Web site interview last week
that HSTA wants a safe and drug-free school environment and was
"aggressively pursuing the issue of drug testing in
negotiations."

RAISES SIMILAR TO HGEA

The pay raises in the new teacher contract are similar to ones that
26,000 state and county workers represented by the Hawai'i Government
Employees Association received in a settlement announced two weeks
ago.

The state is still negotiating a contract settlement with the
remaining large union representing government workers, the United
Public Workers union.

Lingle said the total costs of the new teacher contract, which would
take effect on July 1 and end on June 30, 2009, would be
$119,380,888.

State lawmakers, who must approve the funds for the contract, said
early this spring that money for the pay increases could be available
because of the state's thriving economy and increasing tax revenues.