HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The teachers union is fighting to get pay raises for thousands of public school educators.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) says they were denied the money because the Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE) said they didn’t have enough experience here in Hawaii.

Before coming to Hawaii, David Reid had nine years of teaching on the continental U.S.

The HIDOE had credited six of those years in the classroom, but it was not enough to get him a raise that other teachers with more experience in Hawaii received.

“It was very at first confusing and then upsetting because you know no one wants to work really hard to go broke, and teachers all work very hard and our value to the workplace is years of experience and education and to have your value just erased,” Reid said.

Reid and two other teachers went to the Hawaii Labor Relations Board after being excluded from the HIDOE’s salary increase in 2022.

Known as the compression fix, the repricing boosted pay for 72% of teachers by an average of $6,000.

“When they passed out raises, they said I didn’t have 11, because I’d been here five years at that point,” Reid said.

The board sided with Reid, saying that the years of experience teaching that he and the other two teachers had on the mainland must be considered in the repricing.

The HIDOE appealed the ruling, but a state judge affirmed it last month.

“I’ve described it as the most frustrating thing I’ve ever done in my life. So to come out on the other side and be successful feels really good,” Reid said.

After the decision, Reid’s pay was increased by $3,700 a year.

“Considering the cost of living in Hawaii, that’s not nothing,” Reid said.

The ruling came as the islands grapple with an ongoing teacher shortage. Hawaii ranks in the top 10 states with the lowest teacher to state population.

There are more than 2,000 other teachers like Reid who were not compensated for non-HIDOE teaching experience.

The HSTA is asking the HIDOE to raise their pay as well.

“Hopefully this could apply to everybody,” Reid said.

The HSTA is still waiting on the official written ruling from the court.

We reached out to the department and are waiting to hear back.

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