New hope for schools
By David Shapiro
Welcome back, Linda Lingle.
The governor returned from a two week trip to China and immediately threw down a proposal for ending "furlough Fridays" in the public schools that may actually have a chance of resolving a crisis that has disrupted the community and brought negative attention to our state.
Lingle's plan would go ahead with the seven furlough days scheduled in 2009 but eliminate 27 furlough days in 2010 and 2011 by restoring instruction on 15 non-teaching days and pulling $50 million from the rainy day fund to compensate teachers on 12 other furlough days.
She said it's fair and "represents a shared sacrifice on everyone’s part."
The devil is always in the details, but there are positive signs. The Republican governor floated the idea after receiving a visit from Democratic Sen. Brian Taniguchi and Sen. Will Espero, who has led legislative efforts to resolve the stalemate, called it "positive exciting news."
Wil Okabe, the president of the teachers union, called it "the kind of viable option we said would be necessary for us to return to the negotiating table."
In Lingle's absence, everyone from legislators to Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona to U.S. District Judge David Ezra tried to broker a deal, but it was clear that none would work without the weight of the governor behind it.
Now that we have that, it's time for the parties to make something happen. Nobody expects the political competition to end, but let's take it to a different battlefield where schoolchildren aren't the hostages.
Volcanic Ash
November 16th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Senator Espero has been all over the place on this, seemingly leading the cause. A lot of showboating, if you ask me.
I dont know the facts (Charles?), but it seems to me that, once again, Brian Taniguchi was there to do the real heavy lifting for the Senate, quietly and effectively.
When are we all going to see him as the real leader and true hero that he is?
Thanks, Brian, for being amazing.
November 16th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Aloha ~
I title my comments today, New Hope for Fools ...
Let's own up to this truth: We really don't care about Hawai'i's education system or our Keiki. A confused Governor Lingle told the media, "It's raining on the kids now ... a perfect time for the rainy day fund to be used."
She initially refused to hand our Keiki an umbrella by allowing the furloughs. She could have borrowed from any of Hawai'i's relief funds and apparently continues to resist tapping the Hurricane fund for education purposes. She refused to consider a special session and now appears to be calling for one - PLEASE CALL IT. I also remain unclear about the infamous $35 million in federal money. U.S. Education secretary Duncan thought it was on her desk. Lingle's staff initially told us it had been spent; they later said it had been assigned to charter schools. Where is it?
Not withstanding her current FLIP FLOPS she won't borrow from any of Hawai'i's funds until the New Year. Sorry, kids ... you'll have to study in the rain a while longer.
Lingle reportedly claims her proposed compromise is "fair and represents a shared sacrifice on everyone's part."
Humm ... there's that EVERYONE illusion again. The $50 million comes from the Attorneys General tobacco settlement. Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds et al will be doing their part. Teachers will lose 15 planning days ... did I mention teachers ... they will also be TAXED 5.5 percent.
To Lingle and many others this represents a compromise - tobacco money, reduction in teacher planning days, and a 5.5 percent rather than 7.9 percent TAX on teachers. With whom is Lingle bargaining? When we take away planning days teachers aren't as effective so we're still punishing our Keiki. Clearly Lingle is only looking to satisfy outraged parents by providing baby-sitters on Fridays.
Millions of visitors will enjoy the riches of Hawai'i over the period yet leaders do not consider our Keiki sufficiently valuable to ask them to chip in a few pennies. United Airlines doubled the cost of travel to the islands recently although fuel costs remain constant. The private sector has no problem asking society to support their bottom line.
As I pointed out last week we're afraid to ask our nation's MOST WEALTHY to sacrifice. Financial employees on Wall Street will receive $29.7 billion in BONUSES for their work. Hawai'i's taxpayers helped the industry after their collapse. Apparently our leaders are embarrassed to ask for assistance although bonuses are up 60 percent from last year. Each of the 119,000 employees will receive some $250K on average.
The challenge facing us is to come up with sufficient revenue to close 27 furlough days. The going rate per day is about $4.2M, which totals $114M. If each of the 119,000 financial employees DONATED $960 to Hawai'i's kids there would be ZERO furlough days.
Their bonuses would be reduced to $248,621.80, on average. Hey Ms. Lingle ... do you still believe it's raining on Wall Street?
Governor Lingle hopes to fool you by claiming her compromise is fair and represents a shared sacrifice on everyone's part. Yet she refuses to ask the general population or millions of visitors to join in. She refuses to ask our MOST WEALTHY to sacrifice. By increasing their taxes just 0.24 percent, we would bring our Keiki in from the rain.
You are correct, David, the political competition will not end. Yet let's not fool ourselves by claiming to have solved this crisis in public education. Our governor simply pulled a fast one by adding teachers to Keiki as the hostages in this financial game.
A*L*O*H*A
November 16th, 2009 at 9:38 am
@hipoli,
Brian Taniguchi was off-island for most of this time. On the senate side, it was Will Espero and Gary Hooser who took the lead, then drew in folks from House leadership, all while talking with the unions. Hanabusa responded to the public pressure (and the fact a strong majority of her senators were calling for a special session) by forming a special cte to look into possible solution. She appointed Brian, but he was out of town, so Espero continued to take the lead.
Lingle, of course, offered no leadership on the issue and was the last to "come to the table." In order to get her on board, Taniguchi and Espero had to allow her a chance to flip-flop from her earlier position and allow her some credit for resuming the talks, as they stood in the shadows. Well, they are more gracious than I am.
Lingle's proposal to convert non-instructional days to class days is only "fair" if one believes the fiction the activities currently falling on non-insttructional days do not add to the quality of the classroom experience. Lingle would force teachers to prepare for their classes on their own time, uncompensated. Just as they are expected to pay for class supplies from their own money.
If this is just an initial bargaining proposal, it's a good sign. If the final deal looks anything like this, the teachers will have been skrewed again. I assume contract talks will not be formally re-opned until a deal is agreed upon with all the devilish details spelled out. At least nobody went along with the attempt to stage a meeting where Dukie Aiona would be allowed to play the role of savior of the schools.
November 16th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Scott, your commentary should be titled - "comments by a fool". Here you go again, blaming everyone else except, the so-called hard working teachers. Remember on regular days, they only work from 8 to 2:30, with 45 minutes for lunch - that amounts to only less than 6 hours of work. Everyone must play a part in the budget crisis, even teachers, students and parents. You folks make it appear that missing some instruction days, the whole education system will collapse and students will be dumb forever. This is false, the students will continue to learn as before. And this is only temporary. To use reasoning that reducing instruction days will lead to a total collapse is irresponsible and unfair to those other workers who will have to sacrifice more just because we "gotta" maintain instruction days.
The truth of the matter, the poor performance by our students is not due to instruction days, but a fundamental defect in our education system, too many chiefs and not enough indians. We need teachers who are sincere about teacher and not there just to receive a pay check. We need teachers who make learning challenging, rewarding and interesting. We need teachers who are willing to teach every child and not just those who may want to learn. While we do have some dedicated teachers, they are insufficient to raise the level education standards.
November 16th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Aloha innocent observer ~
I may be a fool but I recognize a sham when I see one. You really don't understand a teacher's day, do you? Teachers run red-hot during a school year.
Let's say you are a math teacher and have two classes each of Business Math and Algebra I with one Geometry class. This would be 125-150 students. Teachers usually have one non-teaching period to manage school admin. When would you prepare for Monday's classes - since you are occupied between 8am and 2:30pm? Few teachers get a complete lunch break, as they're working with students.
A teacher spends the weekend preparing. After Monday's full day there are hours of papers to grade and record. Then it's time to begin preparing for Tuesday's schedule.
Clearly you only know "fuzzy" math because this time extends well beyond six hours. Some teachers volunteer after school or work for nickels and dimes to assist students in extra-curricular activities such as sports, music or leadership development.
But let's return to shared sacrifice. Why take away planning days or cut teacher pay (which is the same as a tax)? Why are you so opposed to adding a GET? This would be "shared sacrifice." Teachers are residents who would suffer this tax increase along with you and me.
Apparently you believe it is unfair to subject 1.3 million residents and millions of visitors to a SMALL increase in taxes when our state can simply penalize 13,000 teachers with LARGE 5-8 percent tax increases.
From an economic standpoint in a tough DEMAND crisis it makes no difference mathematically whether the education shortfall is balanced with a SMALL increase on millions or a LARGE increase on thousands. We take the same amount from the collective pocket book either way.
Yet there is a HUGE difference to a family psychologically that loses 5-8 percent of their base pay compared to millions who lose pennies. And as I have demonstrated repeatedly we could ask our MOST RICH to sacrifice and they wouldn't skip a beat.
You harbor the perception that public schools are bloated and inefficient and therefore do what you can to ensure they fail. People frequently compare public to private schools. This is not a valid comparison. Private schools get to SELECT their students. Charter schools have been touted as the best opportunity to innovate but studies consistently show their shortcomings.
If you want to debate the best options to educate all citizens I am open to that discussion. Yet stop taking teaching or planning days from our teachers and Keiki. There is nothing logical or rational in such a plan - particularly if one believes our education system is imperfect.
Let's focus solely on funding public education without all this ideological and emotional rhetoric.
We need to end 27 furlough days. This comes to about $114 million. Show me your brilliance by proffering a proposal that "represents a shared sacrifice on everyone's part."
I'm a product of the public school system ... I may be the fool but I've listed a number of ways to share the sacrifice. All the superior private and charter school grads have yet to put anything PONO on the table.
A*L*O*H*A
November 16th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
From what I can observe (and with age, the eyesight gets dimmer), it was parents, both as individuals and from organizations such as the Learning Coalition, who loosely organized that resulted in some headway. They were meeting with the stakeholders and played a key role in getting the parties to rethink the situation.
I don't think legislators like Espero would have gone very far without this support. After all, Lingle would just look at the Dems as trying to play politics so why would she engage in that?
Obviously, there are still many moving parts to this so it's far from settled. For example, you would still need the HGEA and UPW to buy into this new approach. Also, there are schools who believe that the non-instructional days play a key role in coming up with a school-wide strategy for improvement. It doesn't just happen.
But there is movement and where's there's movement, there's hope.
As far as teachers only working six hours a day, I'm no longer shocked when people think this. Say a restaurant is open from 5-11 pm. Does anyone think that the cooks, waithelp, dishwashers, etc., show up at 5 pm when the restaurant opens? Does anyone think that everyone goes home right at 11 pm?
Silly.
November 16th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Seems like a great use for the Rainy Day fund.
Aloha,
Keahi
November 16th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
this is not a crisis.this is a sham.smoke and mirrors brought forth by union officials and elected/unelected officials. acrisis is a catagory 3-5 hurricane(rainy days,ok?).a crisis is a tsunami.an8.5 earthquake on the rector scale.a crisis is school teachers getting jerked around by union officials and elected/unelected officials and politicians.
November 17th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
This has been a colective effort by several people. Parents and parent groups certainly were involved and effective. HSTA and BOE chair Toguchi were also actively involved. Rep. Chris Lee from the House was a key point man. Sen. Espero & Hooser played critical roles in the Senate. Sen. Taniguchi did sign the petition but he was out of town for over a week and much was done while he was gone. Linda Smith and Barry Fukunaga were the eyes and ears of the gov while she was gone. The Secretary of Education chimed in as well and had an influence along with Rep. Abercrombie. The LG did not do much but said what others had already said. The governor listened to what people were saying and she acted accordingly. Details must now be worked out and our kids' education MUST BE MADE WHOLE.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:12 am
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/hawaiinews/20091118_Senator_guided_furlough_accord.html
Like I said, Senator Taniguchi is the real leader in all this. When are we all going to recognize it?
BT for Gov.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Hipoli: Taniguchi was pushing for a tax increase now so it wouldn't come up during regular session. BT for governor!
November 18th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Hipoli,
Hooser and Espero in the Senate were the first to respond to the teachers. They launched the drive to get their colleagues to support a special session. Because Gary has already taken grief for taking strong stands against Hanabusa on the SuperFerry and Civil Unions, he urged Will Espero to take the lead and drew back.
Hanabusa opposed the special session, but Espero gathered support, both with other senators and the public, so Colleen met them half-way, just so long as she could put Brian at the head of the effort. Small problem. Brian was out of town for most of this time, so Espero and Hooser pressed forward, lining up general agreement on the outlines of possible deals.
When the House leadership resisted by saying "Lingle won't go along," they were told" We'll get everybody else onboard and present it to the Governor. If she wants to be the only person responsible for killing it, that's up to her. More likely, she'll see the writing on the wall and jump onboard."
Espero doesn't have the gravitas to deal with the Governor. Hanabusa couldn't do it. First, she doesn't really like the idea of a special session. Second, Lingle is not going to help Colleen score points with the public. Brian? Not a problem. He'll be re-elected from Manoa for as long as he wants. Plus, he's not a grandstander. So he's a good choice.
Now Lingle, aided by the Advertiser's editors and headline writers, is posturing as the savior of our kids! Hah! The nerve!
Lingle's "plan" is only her opening bid and the media should stop trying to pressure the unions to accept it or be portrayed as villians. Lingle knows 15 days of unpaid class preparation work and grading is not acceptable to the teachers. Hopefully, the public will also see this and give the teachers the support they need to press for a more fair deal.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
OOOPS!
I wrote: "Hooser and Espero in the Senate were the first to respond to the teachers."
But I meant they were the first to respond to the parents.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
kolea, sorry, man, but I think your slip reveals as much truth as the one you caught me in last week. Gee, I wonder who your candidate for LG is.
November 19th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Dave,
I don't think it is impossible to support the desire of the parent groups to end the furloughs while simultaneously supporting the desire of the teachers to end the furloughs on what they consider "fair" terms.
And yeah, I support Gary Hooser for LG. But it is because he has earned my respect for his leadership on exactly the things he has gotten in trouble for with Hanabusa: his opposition to special treatment for the SuperFerry, his leadership in the effort to pass Civil Unions and, now recently, the role he has played, behind the scenes, in bring the parties together to resolve the Furlough Fridays Fiasco.
You don't have to believe my version of the story. Gary certainly is not saying publicly what I am, because he is caught in the bind that because he is running for LG, everything he tries to do is suspect, and those aligned with other candidates or who have their own reasons to want Gary's effort to fail, will badmouth his actions as "political opportunism".
Which is why Espero emerged as the initial public lead on this and why Hanabusa then put Taniguchi in charge. I think Brian was the best person to approach Smith, Fukunaga and Lingle. But while Brian is dedicated to education, it is not in his nature to go against the Senate President. It is unlikely the Senate would have responded as quickly as it did if Hooser and Espero had not supported the parents and called for a special session and tapping into the Hurricane and Rainy Day Funds, a position which was at first opposed by Lingle, Hanabusa and Speaker Say.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Kolea, agreed, but I don't think "fair" terms would involve making teachers whole while other public workers eat pay cuts of 8 percent and social services take reductions of many times that amount. I continue to think a fair deal for teachers would be something along the lines of what HGEA staff at UH agreed to: reducing their pay cuts from 8 percent to 5 percent in exchange for giving up furlough days that disrupt classes. By my math, that's about what the proposal that emerged from the Lingle-Taniguchi chat amounts to.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Hi Dave,
I'd like to see your math. I don't have the numbers at my fingertips, but my sense is that the math in Lingle's plan is not close to the HGEA settlement.Certainly the meaning of the phrase "pay cut" has taken on new complexity when we are talking about furloughs. If the teacher's work 17 fewer days, but for the same hourly wage, HSTA says the decline in their take-home pay equals a 7.94% pay cut. Close, but not exactly. At least they have that time free for other activities, including, for some, to work a second job. Compare it, for example, with a settlement whereby they would have to work all those furlough days, but earning 7.94% less per hour, another settlement which might be called a "7.94% pay cut."
With Lingle now calling on them to take the furlough days on non-instructional days, what additional money, if any, is she willing to pay them as a result? Or is she pretending, as others do, that the work now performed on "non-instructional" will not now be performed by teachers on their private time?
As you have said, "the devil is in the details." I am not privy to enough details to perform the math you say you have done.
Again, if you can share your math and I can see your numbers do not depend upon teachers grading papers and drawing up lesson plans in their homes any MORE than they currently do, I might agree the settlement is comparable to the HGEA contract for UH workers. After all, I am not aware of UH non-faculty office workers doing a large share of their work at home on their own nickel.
I look forward to you numbers.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Kolea, labor cost savings from the 34 school furlough days is about $100 million. Lingle is proposing to add $50 million to the kitty, which when shared by HSTA, HGEA and UPW employees at the schools should be enough to reduce the 7.94 percent pay cut to 5 percent, the same deal as HGEA staff at UH. They can make the numbers work.
November 20th, 2009 at 6:25 am
Dave,
I hope your numbers work. The Senate was estimating savings from furloughs at $5 million per day, which at 34 days would come to around $170 million. I have been using that figure. You are using someone's figures which puts the cost at $3M a day, which comes to $100M.
Perhaps I am missing something, and perhaps some important "details" have not yet been spelled out, but that seems like a pretty big gap.
I am willing to be "schooled."
November 20th, 2009 at 6:43 am
cutting waste and fraud at doe boe hsta would be a start.what you folks want will ultimately force the next generations to pay for the irresponsible behaviors of adults today.i thought you folks cared for the kids.they will be straddled with paying higher and higher taxes.and you people know this.draw a line and don't crossit.