Weighted student spending was supposed to be the answer to what ails our public schools, but the Department of Education has gotten so bogged down in internal politics that it has lost sight of the goal.

As the centerpiece of Act 51 of 2004, which was supposed to reinvent public education in Hawai’i, the idea was that instead of allocating the DOE budget per school, money would be dished out per pupil, weighted so that those with the greatest needs would get the biggest share.

Schools with a lot of non-English speakers, kids from poor families and transfer students, for instance, would get extra funding to deal will the challenges.

But instead, the DOE has twisted itself in knots trying to figure out how to divide the money between big schools and small schools, with the original goal of getting the most funds to students who need the most help falling by the wayside.

The Legislature has been appointing special committees to investigate everything lately, and with the fifth anniversary of Act 51 coming up next year, it would be a good time to review whether weighted spending — and other mandates of the act such as school-community councils, more spending decisions at the school level and meaningful performance contracts for principals — have been implemented and achieved their goals.

Student test scores that remain dismal and the bureaucratic thrashing suggest Act 51 hasn’t reinvented education, and it’s time to either press for better execution or come up with new ideas.

State House finance chairman Marcus Oshiro took a pretty good whack at Gov. Linda Lingle last week over her tap dance on the legal advice her administration received before deciding the Hawaii Superferry didn’t need an environmental impact study.

“Either way, they really messed up on this one. If they did not ask for a legal opinion, they were negligent. If they did ask for a legal opinion and they did not follow that, they were grossly negligent.”

It’s a fair criticism, but it’s also fair to say the same thing about the Legislature.

Legislators approved $40 million in harbor improvements for the Superferry without a thorough legal review on an EIS. The House especially, at a time when Oshiro was majority leader, rejected demands from environmentalists for an EIS — again without any sign that they solicited independent legal advice.

There was nothing stopping them from asking then the questions they have now about what the attorney general’s opinion was. They could have gotten an opinion from their in-house legal staff.

Lawmakers’ excuses that they followed the administration’s lead on legal issues are as weak as members of Congress taking President Bush’s word for it that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction without doing their own due diligence.

The Legislature’s investigation of the Superferry fiasco seems bent on laying the blame exclusively at Lingle’s feet.

She has a lot to answer for on her decision-making, to be sure, but so does the Legislature. Until the legislative auditor starts shining the light of scrutiny both ways, the probe comes across as a political hit with little credibility.

Barack Obama’s win and the local political din top our weekly “flASHback” on Hawai’i’s news that amused and confused:

• Obama secured the Democratic presidential nomination, and local supporters invited him home for some surf time before the national convention. He’d like to come, but he’s afraid Hillary would follow and fight him for every wave.

• The Institute for Human Services will charge homeless residents $90 a month if they stay longer than three months. You know it’s a bad economy when the cost of poverty is going up.

• Legislative Democrats and Gov. Linda Lingle bashed each other for withholding aid to the needy. Playing poor-mouth politics on the backs of the poor is such poor form.

• House finance chairman Marcus Oshiro bemoaned lower state revenues, saying “the tough decisions just got tougher.” All we’re missing is tough decision-makers.

• Property buyers, sellers and lenders were indicted for working together to carry out a scam. Maybe it’s just as well the governor and Legislature can’t work together.

• Sen. Fred Hemmings says Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona will be the GOP candidate for governor in 2010 because “Duke is up to bat and he’s paid his dues.” If the senator mixes cocktails as well as metaphors, make me a frosty one with an umbrella in it.

• Aiona recouped some dues he paid by charging well-wishers $100 each to celebrate his 53rd birthday at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. For entertainment, the Legislature’s minuscule GOP caucus put on clown suits and showed how they can all fit in a Volkswagen.

• The City Council voted to give qualified O’ahu homeowners a $100 property tax credit, half of last year’s. It’s enough to buy a nice frame for the $1 state rebate the Legislature gave us.

• Mayor Mufi Hannemann was in San Francisco speaking at a transit conference. He can teach plenty on how rail transports politicians on lots of free trips to nice cities.

• The bankruptcy trustee for Aloha Airlines will auction off the right to sue Mesa Air Group Inc. for running Aloha out of business, explaining “a lawsuit is no different than a propeller.” That’s true, a lawyer can sashimi you with either.

And the quote of the week …

… from Councilman Gary Okino, excusing colleague Rod Tam’s “wetbacks” slur against undocumented Mexican workers:

“I don’t think his intention was to be derogatory in any way … I think it was just ignorance.”

Martin Luther King Jr. pegged this council when he said nothing is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

I hate having to deal with paper in the digital age and applaud the Legislature for making substantial efforts to generate less of it.

Senate President Colleen Hanabusa has been especially aggressive, moving this session to use electronic delivery to substantially reduce the printing of bills, resolutions, committee reports, testimony and hearing notices.

The documents were made available electronically via CDs, the Legislature’s Web site, e-mail, RSS feeds and expanded wireless Internet access.

There’s been a little grumbling among the news media, lobbyists and others as the kinks are worked out, but it’s difficult to argue with the very impressive results: The Senate reports that the number of sheets of paper printed in the 2008 session compared to 2007 was down 60 percent from 9.7 million pages to 3.1 million.

Senate leaders say there’s enough acceptance at this point to consider tightening up on paper even further in 2009.

The House hasn’t been as stingy as the Senate with paper, but has taken its own steps to reduce its use; paper usage was down 1 million copies from 2007 in the January bill introduction period alone when 30 of the 51 members signed up for a paperless chamber project.

Members received upgraded laptop computers and electrical and data wiring was improved in the House chamber and conference rooms.

House Clerk Patricia Mau Shimizu said participating lawmakers now have at their fingertips legislative documents that used to take up three or four bookshelves, and the public also has access to much of the information.

Shimizu said smart use of technology translates to “better informed legislators and increased public participation.”

Kau Inoa update. My column in the Opinion section of today’s Advertiser, “Hawaiians have to find a unifying agenda,” looks at the progress — or lack thereof — in OHA’s Kau Inoa campaign to register voters for a Hawaiian nation.

The excellent study group to be chaired by Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona should settle any arguments over the potential costs of a Constitutional Convention if voters decide to call one in the November election.

Legislative Democrats, who are generally skeptical of a ConCon, this session ordered the Legislative Reference Bureau to study the costs.

But Gov. Linda Lingle, who favors the first comprehensive review of the Hawai’i Constitution in 30 years, formed the competing Aiona group after accusing legislators of attempting to run up ConCon costs and turn voters against it by gold-plating its study parameters for salaries, staff, facilities, election costs and voter education.

Aiona took the high road and appointed a balanced 10-member study group that should give voters a fair picture of the range of potential ConCon expenses.

The administration is well-represented by Attorney General Mark Bennett, Comptroller Russ Saito and Budget Director Georgina Kawamura, but so are legislative Democrats with Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser and veteran Rep. Joe Souki, who will make sure the panel doesn’t lowball convention costs.

The group is rounded out by House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan, Republican Sen. Gordon Trimble, Pi‘ilani Kaopuiki of the League of Women Voters, Kaipo Lum of the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce and the state’s Chief Elections Officer Kevin Cronin.

It’s difficult to imagine such a diverse group spinning the outcome to favor one side or the other in the ConCon debate, and House and Senate leaders should save taxpayers a few bucks and call off the Legislative Reference Bureau and its far more limited study that can only pale in comparison.

Bowing out. Sorry to see that Waimanalo Rep. Tommy Waters won’t seek re-election after three terms to devote himself to raising his family and earning a living.

Waters was Judiciary chairman in the last Legislature, a post that tends to handle a lot of high-profile controversial issues and has eaten up more than one chairman. He got the job at a relatively inexperienced stage of his legislative career and sometimes seemed in a bit over his head.

But he appeared honest and real in his dealings, always saying what was on his mind. It would have been interesting to see how he grew into the job.