HSTA wins in court: Teacher travel reinstated, 6-17-2016; posted 6-20-2016

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE To my fellow educators, Today I want to share the good news that a Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of HSTA late this morning, throwing out the state Ethics Commission's opinion that prohibited teacher travel on educational trips. This means teachers can resume the worthwhile practice of taking our students on educational travel. I know this year was difficult on many of you because of how passionately you care about our students and want to give them many learning experiences outside the classroom. This year many community members, parents and legislators publicly voiced their support and appreciation for how teachers dedicate their time to our students by taking them on these trips. This is a victory for teachers, but most important, for Hawaii’s public school students. I want to especially thank HSTA attorney Colleen Hanabusa, who was the force in winning this court decision. Hanabusa argued that the Ethics Commission erred in not going through a rule-making process before issuing both an advisory opinion and guidance memo saying that teachers violated the ethics code by accepting “free trips” to accompany classes on educational travel. Judge Rhonda Nishimura ruled both the opinion and the memo are null and void. The judge also found the commission’s decision was subject to rule making, because it affected a broad group of teachers, students and others. More than 31 class trips were canceled because of the ethics opinion and many others were not planned out for fear of violating the ethics code. Today’s decision does not change the $400,000 that the Legislature appropriated for teacher travel. These funds will still be available for chaperones to take trips. Once the DOE has decided the process of applying for this money, we will share those details with you. Aloha, Corey Rosenlee HSTA President Read the entire Schools Our Keiki Deserve here.