July 1, 2008 - Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle said she does not believe the teachers union and the state Department of Education have been unable to reach an agreement on implementing random drug testing because of funding.
"It wasn't that they just had one more thing they wanted to tweak to implement the program. They wanted to go back to the beginning and negotiate what was already been negotiated," Lingle said.It has been nearly a year since Hawaii's teachers signed a new contract that included an 11 percent pay raise and random drug testing for public schoolteachers.
June 30 was the deadline to draw up a drug testing policy but the Department of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers Association have been unable to reach an agreement.
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TT - The teachers voted 61% to accept random drug testing in a vote that the union said too close to call.
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Hawaii Board of Education Refuses to pay for drug testing Entry
In exchange for the 8% increase , the union "agreed" to random drug testing. Sorta.
As part of a new contract, HSTA agreed to work with the Department of Education to develop a random drug and alcohol testing program for all teachers that would be implemented by June 2008. There's the loophole, and you knew there had to be one if the union agreed to drug testing. The union will help develop the drug testing policy.
