LIHU‘E — Gov. Josh Green has announced plans to increase the salaries of educational assistants and vice principals in Hawai‘i public schools over the next two years, with the tentative agreement receiving the full support of state Department of Education Kaua‘i Complex Area Interim Superintendent Daniel Hamada.
“I’m really pleased. Because, let’s face it, if you really want a quality education system you gotta compensate,” said Hamada in an interview with The Garden Island on Friday.
Green made the tentative agreement public on Thursday, announcing an estimated $33.5 million proposal to raise the salaries of nearly 3,000 Department of Education staff members in Hawai‘i — 2,550 educational assistants and 379 vice principals.
On Kaua‘i specifically, all of the county’s 21 public school vice principals and 163 educational assistants would see salary raises. Currently, 58 of those educational assistant positions are vacant, according to Hamada. The state as a whole has 600 educational assistant vacancies.
The plan aims to recruit and retain educational assistants by increasing pay by 8 percent over the next two years — from $35,425 to $40,611.
Hamada said the salary scale increase is needed to retain experienced educational assistants.
“I think it’s a good thing going down for the educational assistants,” he said, adding that he hoped the increase would delay the retirements of more experienced staff members.
“As I visit schools, we are getting kind of heavy on the older, more seasoned side. And so it’s important that we keep them so they can train the younger ones as we bring them up. Because, if not, we’re going to have an imbalance,” he said.
The agreement would also increase vice principal salaries by 20 percent, with the average base salary moving from $96,912 to $116,292 in fiscal year 2024.
The salary increase would also come with a summer work requirement for vice principals, as they would be converted from 10-month employees to year-round employees — aligning them with principals.
The move to make vice principals annual employees will “make a big difference,” said Hamada, who noted that it’s already common for vice principals to be brought back halfway through the summer to help with various extended learning activities.
“We always had to call back the VPs early. Now with 12 months, they can help run the summer operations at their school. It’s going to be very cost-effective for us not to have to pay them extra to come back early,” he said.
The tentative agreement, which is between the state Department of Education and the Hawai‘i Government Employees Association, still needs to be ratified in order to take effect.
“I’m glad it’s coming to fruition. And knock on wood it gets ratified. But I’m glad now we’re at this point where it has gone through the negotiation process, the governor has come out to make it public, and I just hope it gets ratified,” Hamada said.
Other officials, including state Department of Education Superintendent Keith Hayashi and Green, support the plan.
“These salary adjustments recognize the increasing and evolving responsibilities of these roles and align with the Board of Education’s strategic plan priority around ensuring all of our public schools have a high-quality workforce to improve student access,” said Green in a statement.
Hayashi thanked Green and his administration for working with his department to understand their staffing challenges.
“This move will help our schools attract and retain experienced professionals who are essential to advancing public education in Hawai‘i,” Hayashi said in a statement.
The Board of Education is scheduled to discuss the agreement in executive session at its next meeting on Sept. 7.
•••
Emma Grunwald, reporter, can be reached 808-652-0638 or egrunwald@thegardenisland.com.
