Pay raise, expanded evaluation proposed for state schools chief

Proposals to raise state schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi’s annual salary by $10,000 to $250,000, and to expand his annual evaluation criteria to include performance in high-priority areas such as school facilities and Maui emergency response, are scheduled to be considered today by a state Board of Education committee.

The proposals are on the agenda of the meeting of the board’s Human Resource Committee, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at the Queen Liliuokalani Building, 1390 Miller St., Room 404.

Hayashi’s current salary already surpasses those of many top state officials, including the Hawaii governor’s salary, reported at $165,048 in 2021 by the Council of State Governments.

The average Hawaii public school teacher salary is $73,319, according to the Hawaii State Teachers Association. The union declined to comment on Hayashi’s proposed raise. Teachers in April ratified a new contract with raises totaling approximately 14.5% over four years.

Hayashi’s salary was set at $240,000 when the board appointed him in June 2022, under a three-year contract.

Committee Chair Shanty Asher said in a memo dated today to the other seven committee members that the state school superintendent oversees a statewide educational system that includes “excluded managerial” employees and managerial employees covered under union bargaining unit 6 of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, and those employees received a 4.6% pay adjustment effective July 1.

“A similar adjustment to Superintendent Hayashi’s current annual salary would yield a salary of $251,040, in excess of the statutory cap of $250,000,” Asher said. So Asher said that she recommends raising Hayashi’s salary to the maximum $250,000 set for the superintendent’s position by Hawaii Revised Statutes. The increase would be retroactive to July 1 this year.

The original contract also stipulated among its benefits an automobile allowance of $325 per month. The proposed amendment to the contract says the superintendent would receive “an automobile allowance” without designating a dollar amount.

As of late Wednesday, only one piece of written testimony specific to the salary increase proposal had been posted to the board website. Bob Davis, complex area superintendent for the Leilehua, Mililani and Waialua complex, wrote that for the superintendent, “the magnitude of responsibility and oversight is tremendous, and Superintendent Hayashi has been managing and leading the organization very well. His humble approach and systematic and strategic decision making has galvanized the community to support our public education system.”

In 2022-2023 the national average salary for superintendents of school districts with 100,000 or more students was $297,500, an annual survey by AASA The School Superintendents Association found.

Hawaii’s public school system is the nation’s only statewide school district; the National Center for Education Statistics ranks it as the 13th-largest school district in the nation. Student enrollment for this school year in Hawaii’s regular public schools is 155,222, according to the DOE. The DOE has 22,100 salaried employees, including 12,610 teachers, plus an estimated 20,000 part-time workers.

The board in October also approved salary increases of 4.6% to 6% for the 2023-2024 fiscal year for 21 out of 25 of its “subordinate superintendents” who work under Hayashi. While the DOE at the time declined to confirm the dollar amounts, calculations using past pay ranges approved by the board indicate maximum salaries for some positions rose to nearly $206,000.

A separate proposal calls for amending the criteria used to evaluate Hayashi.

Part 1 of the evaluation would be focused on professional standards and would be “substantially similar” to criteria approved by the board in 2020, Asher said. The five standards focus on: “Visionary Leadership and Organizational Culture,” “Operations, Resource and Personnel Management,” “Strategic Alignment and Policy Implementation,” “Communication and Community Relations” and “Equity Advocacy.”

However, Part 2 expands the evaluation by adding three “targeted goals” for the current school year. Their titles:

>> “Workforce readiness and innovation that prepares graduates to be globally competitive and locally committed.”

>> “Optimization of real estate in support of safe, well-maintained, compliant, clean and attractive schools to provide a positive and inviting learning environment for students and staff.”

>> “Maui emergency response.”

Hayashi’s performance on each of the professional standards and targeted goals would be rated either “unsatisfactory,” “marginal,” “effective” or “highly effective.”

In his last evaluation, for the 2022-2023 school year, the board gave Hayashi a cumulative overall rating of “effective,” with a rating of “highly effective” for a few priority areas, Asher said. His next evaluation is expected in August.

State Senate Vice President Michelle Kidani submitted testimony in “strong support” of the criteria change. “Hawaii’s centralized education system, the only one within the United States, demands leadership that comprehends the nuances of our island communities,” she wrote. The proposed amended criteria “reflects a thorough understanding of the distinctive challenges and opportunities presented by Hawaii’s education system,” she said.