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Committee advances pay differentials for English‑language learners’ teachers; DOE and HSTA support framework
Summary
HB 621, proposing paid differentials to recruit and retain teachers serving English learners, passed committee with HD1; DOE supplied rough counts of TESOL‑assigned teachers and said it would work on criteria for differential pay.
The House Committee on Education approved HB 621 to authorize paid differentials intended to recruit and retain teachers who serve English learners and to recognize specialist training.
The Hawaii State Teachers Association and multiple classroom practitioners testified in support. Vicky Grace Francisco, an EL coordinator and teacher, described the workload of combining full teaching duties with EL coordinator responsibilities and urged competitive pay to retain specialists.
DOE testified that there is no single job title labeled “EL teacher” but that using course assignment data it identified roughly 194 highly‑qualified teachers assigned to TESOL courses and approximately 265 non‑HQ teachers, for a total around 460 teachers currently serving those assignments. DOE said it would work with the Legislature to set criteria for differential pay and suggested the department should help determine qualification tiers.
Legal and bargaining issues: The Attorney General and the Department of the Attorney General’s representative had earlier noted (in other items) that differential pay may interact with collective bargaining under HRS §89‑9; the committee did not change the bill on that point but discussion acknowledged the collective bargaining context.
Next steps: Committee passed HB 621 with HD1 and defected the effective date to 07/01/3000; DOE and stakeholders will work on criteria to determine differential levels, eligibility, and administrative processes.
