TEACHERS FACE DRUG TESTING

The Union Will Send a Tentative State Pact to Instructors for An OK

Joe Passantino left his job at a Las Vegas school last year for the
promise of better pay working as a teacher in Hawaii.

But since arriving in the islands, the 26-year-old special-education
teacher at Kalakaua Middle School in Kalihi has been struggling from
paycheck to paycheck while sharing a home with his girlfriend's family.

"Because of the cost of living and the taxes, we actually take home
less," said Passantino, whose girlfriend teaches at Niu Valley Middle
School. "It's lucky that we have two incomes, but if I was on my own,
I couldn't do it."

Now, the Hawaii State Teachers Association is proposing to raise the
salary of Passantino and about 13,000 other teachers by 4 percent in
each of the next two years, according to a tentative contract
agreement with the state. The contract also would bring teachers one
step up in the pay scale in the second semester, giving them an
additional 3 percent salary hike.

If they vote to ratify the deal on Thursday, teachers would also be
agreeing to random and reasonable-suspicion drug testing -- one of
the contract's provisions.

Gov. Linda Lingle said the contract, which would cost the state
$119,380,888, "recognizes the dedication and hard work of our
teachers" and the impact they have on students' lives.

She said drug testing "will help ensure that schools are safe."

The issue of drug testing in schools has been highlighted by six
drug-related arrests of Department of Education employees in the past
seven months. A bill before the Legislature would subject all public
school employees who work close to children to drug testing if there
is reasonable suspicion they are intoxicated.

According to the proposed contract, the union and the Board of
Education "shall establish a reasonable suspicion and random Drug and
Alcohol Testing procedures" for Bargaining Unit 5 employees, which
includes all teachers.

Officials declined to say how the testing would be done, but the
contract says "principals will not select teachers for random drug
testing, nor will they or the DOE administer or read the results of
the testing." Instead, an independent, certified laboratory would be
hired to do the testing, it said.

A memorandum of agreement between the state, the school board and the
Department of Education requires schools to implement drug testing by
the end of the next school year, according to the contract.

While she would not mind the tests, Rochelle Shiraki, a 36-year-old
language arts teacher, worried it might single out teachers.

"All state employees should be subject to the same standard," said
Shiraki, who also works at Kalakaua Middle. "They should be fair to
all, not target one specific group because of recent incidents."

To inform teachers about the proposed contract, the union will post
the full document online tomorrow afternoon or Monday morning and
have it distributed to schools later that day, said HSTA President
Roger Takabayashi.

The average teacher salary in Hawaii for the 2004-05 school year was
$47,833, an increase of 5.2 percent from the previous year, according
to the American Federation of Teachers. The national teachers union
ranked Hawaii 15th in the nation among average teacher pay. It said
the state's $35,816 average starting salary for a teacher ranked
eighth nationally.

Lawmakers are predicting no problem funding the proposed contract.

"This comes well within the costs of what we had set aside in our
financial plan," said state Sen. Rosalyn Baker, chairwoman of the
Ways and Means Committee.

House Finance Chairman Marcus Oshiro said legislators expected
teachers to be offered raises similar to what was proposed to
employees with the Hawaii Government Employees Association. Those
workers will get pay raises of 4 percent in the next two years,
according to a collective-bargaining agreement that will cost the
state and counties an extra $183.2 million.

Oshiro (D, Wahiawa-Poamoho) hopes teachers can ratify their contract
soon to give lawmakers more time to consider how it will affect other
issues, including pending contracts for United Public Workers and
nurses as well as other legislation.

The current teacher contract expires June 30.