Schools set for cutbacks to be allotted funding

The Maui News
Tuesday, May 16, 2006

By EDWIN TANJI, City Editor

With a massive revenue increase to support their efforts, Maui County's state legislators said the 2006 session staved off cuts in school funding and allotted $183.7 million in capital improvements for highways, harbors and community agencies in the county.

Not all of the bills approved by legislators have been signed by Gov. Linda Lingle, but members of the Maui delegation were confident their actions would become law.

Tops among accomplishments cited by legislators was the additional funding for schools, with Rep. Mele Carroll, representing the rural areas of East Maui, Molokai and Lanai, saying schools in her district were especially threatened.

The Legislature allocated new funds for schools scheduled for cutbacks under the Board of Education's weighted student formula approved last fall.

"My rural areas were hit hard by the funding reform under the weighted student formula," she said. "These are communities that have few educational alternatives beyond the local public school, so a budget cut is felt especially hard and greatly impacts the quality of education the Lanai, Molokai and East Maui keiki receive."

The new appropriation for schools affected by the BOE formula would result in even larger budgets, at least in the 2006-07 school year.

As an example, Hana High and Elementary, which was to have $94,000 cut from its budget in fiscal 2007, would actually have a $53,527 increase over its current budget.

Several of Maui's legislators simply released the list of capital improvements projects approved for the coming fiscal year with no comment other than to note that the $183.7 million allocated to the county in 2007 was an 85 percent increase over the $99.8 million allocated in 2006.

The Maui County legislative delegation was well positioned to win funding for projects, with four Maui representatives – Carroll, Bob Nakasone, Kyle Yamashita and Kam Tanaka – holding seats on the House Finance Committee; and two senators, Vice Chairman Shan Tsutsui and J. Kalani English, on the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Most of the legislators also cited other achievements of the 2006 session.

Yamashita reported several bills dealing with agriculture were approved, including House Bill 2146 to support leasing of agricultural land for diversified agriculture, HB 2145 to permit "agritourism" in support of farming and HB 2772 expanding criminal penalties for agricultural vandalism.

Dealing with an ongoing concern over additives to the Upcountry water system, Yamashita said the House also approved a resolution urging water departments to provide a written notice to the Department of Health on any chemicals added the drinking water system.

Tanaka, the West Maui representative and a former corrections officer, cited approval of HB 2595 that would restrict the corrections division's ability to cancel family visits with inmates, while HB 2153 puts up $1 million for a medical care facility in West Maui.

Tsutsui cited a number of smaller grants for programs and facilities important to the community, including $400,000 to support Community Work Day, $25,000 for fire safety improvements for Hale Makua nursing home and $490,000 for Lokahi Pacific's business incubator program in Wailuku.

Several bills that he supported served little-publicized interests: Senate Bill 3101 seeks to establish a comprehensive early-childhood educational program, SB 2021 deals with a loss of health care benefits for state retirees who move out of state, and SB 3105 extends a rebate program for businesses that install reverse vending machines for the state's container redemption program.

The early-childhood education measure will establish a task force to build on the existing framework of services, Tsutsui said.

"Children are born ready to learn, with minds that are shaped significantly by experiences and environments they are exposed to in the first five years of life," he said.

Such programs need to be adequately staffed with teachers who are properly trained and paid, be available to all children, and "reflect the cultural needs and diversity unique to Hawaii."

Sen. Roz Baker, who chairs the Senate Health Committee, cited major actions taken to provide or improve health services.

One of the better known actions was in SB 2961, which increases the tax on cigarettes over six years, and SB 3262, which bans smoking in all public areas and places of employment, effective Nov. 16.

"Smoking and breathing in secondhand smoke is the number one preventable cause of death and disease in our state," she said.

"The smoking ban coupled with the increase in the cigarette tax . . . will be excellent deterrents to young people starting to smoke and incentives for smokers to quit," she said.

She reported that an increased cost for cigarettes imposed by higher taxes – amounting to $2.60 a pack after six years – has been shown to have a strong correlation to a reduction in the number of young people taking up smoking.

Baker also cited action on SB 218 that provides training stipends for medical technicians to seek advanced training to upgrade their skills, SB 2505 allocating $8 million for substance abuse treatment in schools, and SB 3003, which she said will help low-income elderly people whose prescription drug costs would be increased by the new federal Medicare Part D program.

Carroll, the freshman legislator who was appointed to the 13th District seat in 2005, cited with some pride two of the lesser-known bills that she pushed through.

One, HB 2885, requires businesses selling adult entertainment products to separate them from other products that may be open to the general public. She introduced the bill in response to a complaint from a Wailuku mother over a shop that had sexually explicit material on open display in an area frequented by children.

The second, HB 2737, requires the state attorney general and the Department of Transportation to study and recommend actions to allow the state or county to make improvements to Honopou Bridge in Huelo.

Questions over ownership of the rural residential road have blocked improvements needed to make the bridge safe for county fire trucks and other emergency equipment.

"The purpose of this act is to protect the safety and well-being of the residents of the Honopou district," she said.

Carroll's colleague in the Senate, English, whose district encompasses Carroll's, focused on the energy bills approved by the Legislature as a "historic advance in energy reform."

The actions include SB 2957, increasing renewable energy tax credits, eliminating a sunset date on the credits, supporting alternative fuels and expanding state efforts to encourage homeowners to install solar water heaters. There also are measures for developing hydrogen energy programs, a pilot photovoltaic program for schools and mandates for encouraging energy efficient designs in new buildings.

The legislative initiatives were disputed by the Sierra Club, which described the actions of the Legislature as "half-okole attempts at energy reform." Sierra Club Hawaii chapter Director Jeff Mikulina said Lingle had offered a more comprehensive package, citing as one example Lingle's proposal for a $10,000 tax credit for a homeowner installing a photovoltaic system, cut to $5,000 by the Legislature.

English said the legislative actions were a move in the direction of energy self-sufficiency for the state as a long-term goal.

"Energy reform is a goal that won't be met overnight, but the bills passed this session mean a comprehensive change in state energy policy," he said. "They reflect a clear understanding on the part of Hawaii's lawmakers that we cannot go on the way we have."

MAJOR ALLOCATIONS INCLUDE:

• $3.7 million for a new Wailuku elementary school, anticipating the massive number of new homes being built in the region.
• $7.3 million for a new Kihei high school.
• $24.35 million to relocate and expand the Maui Community Correctional Center.
• $16 million for improvements at Maalaea Harbor, including upgrades for an interisland ferry as well as infrastructural improvements to electrical and sewage handling systems.
• $14.8 million for improvements and expansion of Maui Memorial Medical Center, including improvements to the emergency room. That's in addition to $22 million appropriated in the current fiscal year for a new parking structure at Maui Memorial.
• $18 million for a Kahului Airport access road.
• $18.5 million for improvements to the airport terminal.
• $10.2 million for planning, design and land acquisition of the next two phases of the Lahaina bypass highway.
• $12.7 million for improvements to the barge terminal at Kahului Harbor.
• $3.3 million for the Hana small boat launching ramp.
• $3.5 million for improvements to the Hana Airport.
• $1.36 million for the Community Clinic of Maui to renovate the former Ooka's Supermarket.
• $1.15 million as a grant to Hale Mahaolu.
• $1.2 million as a grant to Maui Economic Opportunity Inc. for a new transportation facility.
• $2.5 million for repair and maintenance of the Molokai irrigation system.

Edwin Tanji can be reached at editor@mauinews.com.

Copyright © 2005 The Maui News.

Original article URL: http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=19746

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