Failure to Renegotiate Teachers Contract Delays Race to the Top
01/05/2012
Katherine Poythress/Civil Beat
A former teachers union executive predicted last summer that Hawaii's Race to the Top would be the biggest loser when contract negotiations went awry.
Turns out, Joan Husted was right.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Education chastised Hawaii for its failure to make "adequate progress" on its federal Race to the Top goals.
The state has been placed on "high-risk" status and will undergo heightened federal scrutiny. It may even lose what's left of its $75 million award if it doesn't start delivering on its promises.
The severe words from the feds were contained in a letter addressed to Gov. Neil Abercrombie, whose administration will be held accountable for meeting the four-year goals — even though it was former Gov. Linda Lingle who oversaw the successful federal grant application in 2010.
But for all the talk about the recent upbraiding, no one has answered yet who dropped the ball, when, and why. It turns out that most of the key initiatives to fall behind should have been addressed in the contract that Abercrombie unilaterally implemented when bargaining reached an impasse last summer. The Hawaii State Teachers Association has challenged the governor's decision, a protest now being heard by the Hawaii Labor Relations Board.
The board meets today, and at its last meeting didn't hear any testimony as it appeared both sides were scurrying to find a resolution to the dispute in response to the threat from the federal department of education.
