Government
Why Hawaii Is No Paradise for Teachers
Hawaii’s beauty attracts instructors from the mainland, but its cost of living and remoteness lead to high turnover.
No one knows why the job postings went viral. As in previous years, the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE) was simply trying to fill its vacant positions. Sure, there were 1,600 of them, but that wasn’t unheard of. The incentives it was offering, especially for special education teachers in Hawaii’s public schools, weren’t out of the ordinary, either.
But in April 2016, following local media coverage of the current vacancies and an Associated Press story, articles with headlines like “Aloha! Come Teach in Hawaii” and “Make Your Vacation Your Vocation: Hawaii is Hiring” flooded social media.