National teacher shortages have been a recurring challenge for the past decade, a problem that significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Hawai’i is no exception.

The Department of Education conducted a survey revealing that 25% more public school teachers in Hawai’i resigned after the 2020-21 academic year compared to the previous year, citing fatigue and challenges related to the pandemic.

“We don’t have enough qualified teachers in the classroom here,” said Rep. Andrew Takuya Garrett, Democrat for House District 22 (Mānoa/Tantalus/McCully-Mōʻiliʻili). “It’s just really a matter of what’s the best approach to try to support them.”

Garrett hopes a new bill will boost the ranks of teachers across the state. House Bill 1345 would subsidize local students’ tuition in their final semester of the teacher education program.

“Here’s some tuition assistance that will help you get over the finish line,” said Nathan Murata, dean of the UH Mānoa College of Education.

UH backs the bill, said Debora Halbert, vice president for academic strategy.

“The University was of course supportive of methods where we could identify ways to encourage individuals to go to teaching as a profession because of course there’s a teacher shortage,” Halbert said.

Many student teachers worry about the cost of tuition and taking time to finish their teaching requirements, leading them to not follow through with the program.

“People come to teaching after they’ve done other things whether that’s military service or other kinds of work,” said Michael Cawdery, a professor at Leeward Community College who testified in favor of the bill.

UH Mānoa officials hope this legislation will lead to increased enrollment in the teacher education program.

“I think anytime there is that funding opportunity to support our future teachers, the college and myself are very much in support of this particular initiative from the legislation and we very much appreciate it,” said Murata.

With HB 1345 still progressing through the legislature, some details have not been hammered out, including how much money will be allocated to the bill and qualifications for enrollment in the tuition program.

Currently, at UH Mānoa, 220 to 230 students graduate from the College of Education each year, a number Murata hopes will increase if this bill passes.

Murata explains it is important to show attention to teaching professions and also value what they do.

Since being introduced in January, the bill has been analyzed by both the Board of Regents and the Department of Education and is currently in conference to see which way it will go.

“So we go there and lobby all the time, make sure that we can get it and we’re still in that waiting game process,” Murata said. “But we feel good about it, feel really good about it.”