Arrangement unfair, hurts new teachers

This year, 500 new teachers will have to make do with only half the pay they hoped to get for their first paycheck.

In prior years, teachers received the first month's pay in the middle of September.

This year, however, the Board of Education decided to distribute the funds earned for the Aug. 18-31 pay period over the next six months. Since about half of the new teachers come from the Mainland, many depend on being paid as soon as possible, and so have suffered undue hardship.

The unilateral decision to change tradition is cheating Hawaii's teachers through inflation. A dollar paid six months from now is worth less than a dollar paid today.

Although the injunction was filed in July by the Hawai`i state Teachers Association to prevent the Board's action, it was turned down by the Circuit Court.

Yet in spite of its legality, the practice is nevertheless unethical.

The Board should let the tradition stand. The state can afford to absorb the inflation expense; Hawaii's teacher cannot.