U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan warned this week that if Congress doesn’t make a move to bail out teachers, 300,000 of them nationwide could end up losing their jobs, The Boston Globe reported. President Barack Obama is sounding the same alarm, according to the report, which adds that the proposed teacher relief bill would amount to about $23 billion.

Maybe school districts nationwide could take a cue from Hawaii and institute furloughs.

Both seem like quick jumps to unnecessary conclusions. In fact, we even reported that was the case with Furlough Fridays. But aren’t teachers’ contracts negotiable? Would teachers really rather lose 300,000 of their colleagues and threaten educational quality for students (by increasing classroom sizes) than take pay cuts? Is it the responsibility of the American taxpayer to bail out teachers in D.C. who might soon be making an average of twice as much as the average teacher salary in Hawaii?

What would it take to motivate teachers to exchange small short-term salary cuts for the long-term benefit of the students they are supposed to serve?

Share your thoughts on the proposed teacher bailout and what it might mean for Hawaii public schools in our ongoing education conversation.