State lawmakers on Wednesday sharply questioned education officials and leaders charged with ensuring teachers are adequately prepared over the issues of persistent teacher shortages, licensing backlogs and student achievement gaps — with some senators warning that delays in strengthening the teacher pipeline are harming students.
During a hearing on teacher preparation and workforce development, state Sen. Samantha DeCorte (R, Nanakuli-Waianae-Makaha) raised concerns about what she described as a lack of urgency in ensuring that teachers are licensed and students meet basic academic benchmarks.
“Student success,” DeCorte said, should be the standard for evaluating teacher quality, arguing that graduating students who read at a fourth-grade level is “offensive and insulting to any parent.”
“We can’t expect success from our students if we don’t expect success from our teachers,” she said. “And we can’t expect success from our teachers if we’re not holding them to a standard.”
DeCorte pointed to teachers in her district who have waited up to three years to complete the licensing process, calling it a “mark that’s being missed” as students continue to graduate without fundamental reading and job-readiness skills.
The hearing focused in part on the Teacher Education Coordinating Committee, or TECC, an advisory body established in 1965 to make recommendations on teacher preparation statewide.
TECC members said the committee works collaboratively with the Department of Education, the University of Hawaii system, private institutions and alternative certification programs.
The committee is composed of about 20 members representing public and private education, educator preparation programs, the Hawaii State Teachers Association and Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education, according to TECC representatives.
Higher Education Chair state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim (D, Kalihi-Fort Shafter-Red Hill) said she and other lawmakers were largely unfamiliar with the committee, despite its decades-long existence.
“That kind of worries me,” Kim said. “You guys seem to be kind of really low-key.”
Kerry Tom, a TECC facilitator and designee of the schools superintendent, said the committee recently adopted a five-year strategic plan focused on three goals: building teacher capacity, improving in-service teacher satisfaction, and advocating for competitive compensation and incentives.
TECC functions at a “macro” level, Tom said, setting statewide priorities while leaving individual educator preparation programs — including UH Manoa and 14 other approved providers — to design their own curricula.
UH Manoa’s College of Education Dean Nathan Murata said the committee initially outlined five objectives but narrowed them to three to focus on achievable outcomes. He said TECC recommendations have informed changes to teacher preparation programs and hiring processes.
Murata noted that UH Manoa graduates between 250 and 300 teachers annually, which he acknowledged is not enough to meet statewide demand. DOE officials said application and hiring reforms have reduced vacancies from as many as 1,000 in past years to fewer than 100 today.
However, lawmakers raised concerns about the quality and licensing status of teachers filling those positions. A December report by DOE and UH found that 48% of teachers in classrooms were not fully licensed.
Tom said the workforce now includes a mix of licensed teachers and emergency hires, many of whom are mid-career professionals transitioning into education. TECC is exploring ways to better support those individuals as they work toward certification.
Recruitment efforts have increasingly focused on developing “homegrown” teachers, Tom said, including outreach to middle and high school students, teacher pathway academies and partnerships aimed at attracting young people to the profession.
But state Sen. Troy Hashimoto (D, Wailuku-Kahului- Waihee) said those efforts are falling short. He said the state needs to do more to recruit students directly out of high school, adding that the current pathway into teaching is not streamlined or accessible enough to make the transition easy.
Hashimoto criticized what he described as a lack of coordination between DOE, TECC and UH, calling reliance on international J-1 teachers a temporary “Band-Aid” rather than a long-term solution.
Enrollment data shared during the hearing showed low numbers of education majors statewide, including fewer than 300 students enrolled at UH Manoa’s College of Education in the 2024-25 academic year, and just nine bachelor’s-level education students on Maui.
“That data speaks for itself,” Hashimoto said. “We should be really, really concerned.”
Compensation also emerged as a key issue. DOE officials acknowledged that a $10,000 hiring bonus may not be sufficient given Hawaii’s cost of living, particularly in hard-to-fill areas such as special education.
When DeCorte asked where efforts to increase pay stall, Kim responded with a laugh, “It’s us, unfortunately … We don’t give them the money.”
DOE officials said retention remains a challenge, with just over 50% of teachers remaining in the workforce after five years. By comparison, UH Manoa reports a 90% retention rate among its graduates beyond five years.
Tom said DOE separation data shows many teachers are leaving the state altogether, citing factors such as affordability, military transfers and transience.
Lawmakers also questioned the DOE’s claim that it processed 11,000 teacher applications to fill about 1,000 vacancies. DOE officials explained that a shift to a pooled application system inflated aggregate numbers by allowing candidates to apply to multiple positions.
TECC members said the committee meets monthly and regularly invites legislators to attend. Murata said Kim had been invited but was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts.
Kim responded that awareness remains an issue.
“It’s hard when we don’t even know you exist,” she said.
As the hearing concluded, several senators said they expect clearer data, stronger coordination and more aggressive action to build a sustainable teacher pipeline — warning that continued delays will have lasting consequences for students, families and communities across the state.
