Ah, the magic words: "when adjusted for cost of living".  Who in Hawaii is NOT paid less than their counterparts in most other states after adjusting for Hawaii's high cost of living?  The answer is, almost no one.  Teachers are not unique, the story is much the same for firefighters, police officers, doctors, lawyers, computer programmers, airline pilots, construction workers... all of us!  Our salaries would have to be 30%-plus higher than the salaries of our Mainland peers for us to have comparable buying power, but neither local taxpayers nor local businesses can afford to pay their employees that large of a cost of a living adjustment.  The disparity will continue to exist unless and until we find a way to drive down Hawaii real estate prices which are the main factor in keeping our cost of living so high.