HILO — Legislation working its way through the state Senate aims to improve teacher retention and recruitment by creating a housing voucher program for full-time teachers employed by the state Department of Education or at public charter schools.
Senate Bill 12 and Senate Bill 114 would authorize the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. to implement the housing program.
As drafted in SB 114, the program would provide vouchers to full-time teachers employed by the DOE who teach in a “hard-to-fill” school, a designation to be determined by the department, and whose household income does not exceed 80 percent of the area median income.
The vouchers, which are not to exceed $500 per month, would be provided on a first-come, first-served basis and may be used for rent, mortgage payment for the teacher’s primary residence or down payment on a residential property, provided it will be the teacher’s primary residence and the teacher does not own, operate or control any other residential properties.
“Personally, I felt that we need to do as much as we can to make sure our teachers live in our community and teach at our schools,” said Sen. Dru Kanuha (D-Kona, Ka’u) a co-sponsor of both bills.
The bills are just one of many steps the Legislature is trying to take in an attempt to “overcome the teacher shortage,” he said.
Neither bill currently includes an appropriation amount.
SB 12 and SB 114 passed second readings last week and were referred to the Senate Ways and Means committee.
Ways and Means recommended both bills be passed with amendments.
“Housing subsidy vouchers can be a tool to increase the department’s teacher retention, especially in hard-to-fill geographic areas,” said DOE Superintendent Christina Kishimoto in written testimony submitted before committee hearings on both bills. “According to a 2016 report by the Learning Policy Institute, housing incentives was one factor for teachers who left the profession in their consideration in returning to the field of education. The financial assistance provided through the voucher program may help to ease some of the financial burden, magnified by high cost of living in Hawaii.”
DOE spokeswoman Lindsay Chambers said a housing voucher program for eligible teachers could be a helpful recruitment and retention tool to attract and retain quality educators.
“At the same time, we recognize that affordable housing needs (to) span professions, not just in education, due to Hawaii’s high cost of living,” she said.
While the “hard-to-fill” requirement is not currently defined in the bill, Chambers said the DOE uses similar terminology to award differential pay to licensed teachers working in schools that are difficult to staff.
As defined in the current Hawaii State Teachers Association contract, those are schools located in the Hana, Keaau, Lanai, Molokai, Ka‘u, Nanakuli, Pahoa and Waianae complexes.
In submitted testimony, HSTA President Corey Rosenlee also urged support of the measures and said Hawaii continues to suffer from a shortage of qualified teachers, especially in the state’s hard-to-fill schools.
A housing voucher program would assist teachers “in attaining sustainable and stable residency while staving off crushing debt burdens,” he said. “It would also make the teaching profession more attractive by increasing educators’ purchasing power through the subsidization of rent and mortgages in the state with the nation’s highest housing costs.”
Craig Hirai, executive director of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., said in his submitted testimony that the corporation does not have the appropriate staff and expertise to administer a housing voucher program of this nature.
Based on the number of classroom teachers and vacancies, HHFDC would require a minimum of 22.5 full-time equivalent positions and the related funds to staff the proposed voucher program, in addition to the appropriations needed for the vouchers themselves.
Email Stephanie Salmons at ssalmons@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
They should do this with Doctors as well! Perhaps paying their student loans off in exchange for long term commitments? Anything to boost our healthcare system!
Basically the $500/mo. Would be an increase in salary which is much needed. However it should be for all teachers not based on what family income is or what property they own. Because if you want to attract smarter and better teachers, they being smarter and better may have family income that is already more than poor teachers, so discriminating will only provide more poorer educated teachers. Get smart… attract the smarter financially better off teachers too. Don’t say you don’t deserve it because you are smart and better educated. Or they will be making less as teachers and go into other fields… which is what’s happening now. Get my point? Get smart people. Pay all teachers more. Call it a housing allowance, but it is really a well deserved raise for All.
The problem is there is not enough housing. This does nothing to increase the supply of housing. To the extent it gets a teacher in a house who could not afford it before, what that means is it booted someone else out of that house.
If we are serious about fixing housing, we need to allow more housing to be built. Everything else is just rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. Every story in this paper that describes a potential development of new housing, is immediately attacked by people who oppose that housing on the basis of (traffic, cultural history, too crowded, let’s demand a bunch of extras the developer can’t afford, etc. etc.)
There may be reasons to oppose that housing. But let’s get honest about whether we want it or not, because affordability is not going to improve without it.
Some teachers deserve more money and some don’t, the problem is the union doesn’t see it that way , more money for everyone. I googled the easiest degree to get and it was a teaching degree. If you go to school knowing teacher salaries are low and then complain about it, here’s your sign. That’s like buying a cheap house by the airport then complaining about the noise. Most of us work all year not 9 months for similar money and have to pay into our own 401k. We don’t have a cushy pension. All I’m trying to say is if you don’t like the pay at your job go get another one! (.Y.)