The state Department of Education announced today a new initiative that aims to tackle Hawaii’s teacher shortage by providing incentives for educators teaching in critical areas.
The first phase of the effort is a proposal to implement a pay differential to increase compensation for classroom teachers in areas that have faced the most severe shortages — special education, Hawaiian language immersion programs, and hard-to-staff geographic locations, the DOE said.
Special education teachers would receive an additional $10,000 annually, Hawaiian language immersion teachers would receive an additional $8,000, and those teaching in geographically hard-to-staff complex would receive $3,000-$8,000, depending on different criteria, according to the proposal.
The proposal will be considered by the state Board of Education on Thursday.
More information can be found in Wednesday’s edition of the Tribune-Herald.