09-14-2006, 04:07 AM
My sister recently moved over to the Kona side for a teaching position. She did receive her relocation bonus, a whopping $1500, and actually compared to Oregon wages she makes about $4,500 more per year in Hawaii. However, she is a recent Master's degree, so didn't take the no pay for experience hit like many do. She figures she can make it for a year as is, and in the meantime will do the testing and certs that will increase her wages a bit. Since she only started in July, I'm sure as time goes on she will get more of a handle on how the system operates....but so far it seems just OK. She was able to get out of a situation here where she had over 40 special ed students in her care, and now has a classroom of only 10-15 at a time. She feels like this is an improvement, regardless of the pay issues. But as time goes on and COL sets in, she may have to reconsider.