The chairman of the House Education Committee on Friday shelved a proposed tax increase put forward by the teachers union that sought to create dedicated funding for public schools.
Senate versions of the legislation were still alive this week, but political observers say the tax hike — an especially tough sell in an election year — will likely stall now that the House has signaled its position. Gov. David Ige also has said he would not support raising taxes.
The 13,500-member Hawaii State Teachers Association proposed bills to raise the general excise tax to 5 percent from 4 percent to fund a 10-part omnibus education package calling for higher teacher compensation, more public preschools, an end to high-stakes testing, a cap on class sizes and additional preparation time and funding for special-education teachers, among other initiatives.
The GET, Hawaii’s largest source of revenue, hasn’t been raised statewide since 1965. The state collected $3.05 billion in GET revenues for the fiscal year that ended June 30, representing more than 40 percent of total tax collections.
The HSTA estimates an increase of 1 percentage point would generate approximately $750 million annually. Under questioning by lawmakers, HSTA President Corey Rosenlee said the biggest cost item in the bill potentially is teacher salaries.
House Education Chairman Roy Takumi credited the union for being “bold and creative.”
“Clearly, there’s a recognition and awareness that public schools are underfunded. I think we’ve known that for a long time,” Takumi (D, Pearl City-Waipio-Pearl Harbor) said Wednesday, following a lengthy hearing on House Bill 2733 Opens in a new tab. “When you come to the Legislature … there are a lot of issues out there that require funding. This is a big-ticket item. I think the HSTA hopefully realizes that at the Legislature we just don’t approve $700 million worth of stuff in one session. So if this is part of an effort to continue to build awareness, particularly in the community, I think this is a good first step.”
Takumi had postponed decision-making until Friday so that he could gauge interest from House leadership and committee members. In announcing his decision to defer the bill, he said, “The Senate Education Committee sent basically this bill and parts of this bill over to the Ways and Means Committee, so we do have a vehicle, so we’ll see where that one goes.”
The Senate Education Committee on Wednesday voted 3-1 to pass Senate Bill 2586 Opens in a new tab, which contains HSTA’s omnibus package, and SB 2599 Opens in a new tab, which would raise the GET by 1 percentage point to more broadly fund DOE operations. Sen. Gil Riviere (D, Heeia-Laie-Waialua), whose wife is a schoolteacher, voted no on both bills.
Hawaii is the 10th-largest school district in the nation, with more than 180,400 students. The DOE has one of the largest operating budgets among state departments, with more than $1.5 billion allocated from the general fund for the current fiscal year, but officials say their budget hasn’t kept up with inflation.
Nationally, states on average spent $10,700 per pupil on public school education in 2013, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. Hawaii spent $11,823 per pupil that year, ranking 17th highest among the 50 states and Washington, D.C. The teachers union contends Hawaii spends the least nationally when cost of living is factored in.
HSTA’s Rosenlee acknowledged the legislation would be controversial but said the union will continue to seek increased funding for education.
“For years we’ve said we need to improve public education, and now there’s actually something occurring in this Legislature to try to actually achieve that,” he said. “We are moving forward with a solution to how do we fix our schools.”
Rep. Takashi Ohno, vice chairman of the House Education Committee, who sponsored the bill in the House, said he believes some pieces of the bill can be addressed without legislation, perhaps through collective bargaining, policy changes by the Board of Education or with the state panel charged with analyzing the formula for per-pupil funding.
“There’s just a different take to getting things done. I can certainly empathize with HSTA — they want everything and they want everything now,” said Ohno, a former public school teacher. “If that’s what Corey’s membership wants — a full 1 percent tax increase — then it is fully within their right and the democratic process to bring that idea here and let democracy play out.”
