The teachers union announced Wednesday it will take another vote on a proposed contract overwhelmingly rejected in January, a decision a union leader said is "driven by the urgency to preserve" the state’s $75 million Race to the Top grant.
The announcement delivered at the end of the business day caught many off guard and angered some teachers.
A date for the vote has not yet been set, but union officials said they begin a series of informational meetings for teachers statewide Monday.
Hawaii State Teachers Association President Wil Okabe said the union’s board of directors voted unanimously to hold a second ratification vote, an unprecedented move in the HSTA’s 41-year history.
"This decision is driven by the urgency to preserve the $75 million Race to the Top grant for Hawaii," Okabe said in a letter to Gov. Neil Abercrombie Wednesday. "We have an unquestionable mutual interest to secure the federal grant for the benefit of Hawaii’s children."
In an email to the Star-Advertiser, Okabe said he does not want to rush into the second vote and will take plenty of time to answer teachers’ questions.
"We are asking members to reconsider," he said. "We have an elaborate informational program planned over the next few weeks."
The proposed six-year contract includes the move to a controversial performance management system in the 2013-14 school year.
The deal was aimed at ending a labor dispute with teachers that began 10 months ago.
On HSTA’s Facebook page, dozens of teachers reacted with disbelief and anger. "You’ve got to be kidding me. You didn’t like our first answer, so you’re asking again?" one teacher said. Another wrote, "I’m beyond insulted and disgusted."
The state Department of Education Wednesday night did not have a comment on the announcement.
The governor’s office planned to provide HSTA with a written response.
Donalyn Dela Cruz, Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s spokeswoman, did say in an email that the decision shows that "HSTA recognizes that the governor’s January 2012 proposal was a good one at that time."
Under the proposal, teachers, like other public workers, would continue to see 5 percent wage reductions through June 30, 2013, before moving to a new salary schedule that recognizes their years of service.
The department also would move to a revised teacher evaluation system that takes into account student academic growth. Teachers rated "effective" or "highly effective" would be eligible for 1 percent "step" raises annually.
The new contract would run retroactively from July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2017.
Two-thirds of teachers rejected the proposal in voting Jan. 19, with many raising questions about the revised evaluation system and how it would be tied to compensation, tenure and other personnel decisions.
The move to a performance-based management system was among the key pledges the state made to secure a competitive Race to the Top grant, a signature education initiative under the Obama administration.
Acceptance of the contract would have gone a long way in helping convince federal authorities that the state can make good on its ambitious Race pledges.
The state’s slower-than-promised pace of reforms since the grant was awarded in 2010 prompted the U.S. Department of Education in December to put the grant on high-risk status and warn it could be lost if substantial gains were not made soon.
Federal reviewers visited the state in March to determine whether Hawaii is making progress on its goals. The results of the visit are expected to be released soon.
State Sen. Jill Tokuda, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, reacted cautiously to the HSTA move Wednesday, saying she was unsure of the "catalyst" for the decision to hold another vote.
She added that she wouldn’t want to see another rush to a ratification vote.
"There were a lot of people who just did not know what was being put before them" in January, she said.
Among the reasons teachers cited for rejecting the proposed contract were a lack of information and inadequate time to consider the deal.
The union agreed it had to proceed slower this time.
Okabe told members in an email Wednesday, "In order to rectify our mistake in rushing a ratification vote on January 19 — less than two weeks after the settlement was negotiated — we are initiating a full schedule of informational meetings for HSTA members."
Teachers have been working under an imposed contract since July, when negotiations fell apart. The union is arguing before the Hawaii Labor Relations Board that the state violated teachers’ rights when it unilaterally implemented its "last, best and final" offer with wage reductions.
HSTA also recently resumed negotiations with the state, but it’s unclear whether the decision to hold a second vote came out of those talks.
Joan Husted, former executive director of HSTA, called the second vote a "bold move."
She supports the proposal and said if the union delivers clear information to teachers, they could approve it this time around.
"I would suspect … teachers would like it over with," she said. "They want their contract settled."
