HONOLULU — Hawaii public school teachers signed off on first-in-the-nation statewide random drug testing in exchange for pay raises, but now the state contends the educators are trying to take the money and run.
Since the teachers union approved the pact nearly two years ago, educators have accepted the 11 percent boost in pay while fighting the random tests as an illegal violation of their privacy rights.
No teacher has been tested.
The showdown over teacher drug testing arose from the highly publicized arrests of six state Education Department employees in unrelated drug cases over a six-month period. One, special education teacher Lee Anzai at Leilehua High School, pleaded guilty to selling more than $40,000 worth of crystal methamphetamine to an undercover agent.
None of the cases involved drug use in the classroom, and the teachers union argues there are only a few bad apples among the 13,000 teachers in the state’s single public school district.
The union says it didn’t consent to truly random drug testing in the contract, which says the parties “agree to negotiate reasonable suspicion and random drug and alcohol testing procedures.” The union’s definition of “random” is limited to a pool of teachers who go on field trips, work with disabled children, are frequently absent or have criminal records.
“Random testing isn’t going to suddenly increase test scores,” said Mike McCartney, executive director for the Hawaii State Teachers Association. “This is a huge distraction from how to make our schools better.”
The state government thinks teachers are trying to wiggle their way out of the deal.
The issue is awaiting a ruling from the Hawaii Labor Relations Board. In the meantime, the Board of Education has refused to spend money for drug testing, at $35 per teacher, because its members say those dollars would be better used in the classroom.
Only a handful of other school districts nationwide require random teacher drug testing of existing employees, many of them in Kentucky.
