Island legislators seeking ways to end DOE furloughs

The Maui News
January 19, 2010

By CLAUDINE SAN NICOLAS, Staff Writer

WAILUKU - Maui's state lawmakers are looking at ways to get public school students back into classrooms instead of using Furlough Fridays to help balance the state budget.

State Rep. Gil Keith-Agaran has joined his seven freshman colleagues in the House in proposing that the state Department of Education be mandated to offer 190 instructional days per school year.

"Furlough Fridays didn't put student learning first," Keith-Agaran said. The Democratic lawmaker who represents Central Maui and Lower Paia residents was referring to a teachers contract reached last fall that calls for 17 furlough days for this and next school year. Gov. Linda Lingle and the Hawaii State Teachers Association agreed to Furlough Fridays as a means to reduce state costs. The furloughs amounted to an 8 percent salary cut for public school teachers.

So far, eight Furlough Fridays have been implemented, and negotiations have not been successful in eliminating or reducing the number of furlough days.

Keith-Agaran said his proposal will most likely not affect this year's teacher furlough schedule. But if funding is provided for the next school year, it could start in fall 2010.

He said he expects that other bills will be introduced to address Furlough Fridays.

The 2010 legislative session opens Wednesday.

Last fall's teachers contract agreement resulted in Hawaii becoming the state with the fewest public school days, reducing that number from 180 to 163 days per school year.

Critics have argued that the labor agreement does not provide enough classroom time and will ultimately decrease student achievement and performance.

Maui state Sens. Roz Baker, Shan Tsutsui and J. Kalani English also are drafting a bill to require 190 instructional days.

"It sets a mandate for the state to fund at least that," said Baker, a Democrat representing South and West Maui. "To me, I think we need to set the bar higher and say, 'This is the expectation.' "

With the state budget already cut to the bone, Baker said, she was ready to look at using money from the state's rainy day and hurricane relief funds for education.

She said she was also open to increasing the general excise tax in order to fund education and other core services.

State Rep. Joe Souki, a Democrat who serves Central Maui residents, said the mandate of 190 instructional days is "fine, but where are you going to find the money for that? . . . You can't mandate something if you don't have the money for it."

Souki is seeking support for a proposal to raise the general excise tax by 1 percentage point for five years and dropping the personal income tax rate to 8 percent.

Furlough Fridays are a collective-bargaining issue and need to be resolved by the governor, the teachers union and the Board of Education, Souki said.

State Rep. Kyle Yamashita, a Democrat from Upcountry Maui who serves as vice chairman of the House Labor and Public Employment Committee, echoes Souki's position. His stance is nearly identical to Souki's.

"It's a collective-bargaining issue, so it's difficult for us to step in," Yamashita said. "Sure, we would all like to be involved in these negotiations, but it is governed by law that we can't. If we step in, we could open ourselves up to lawsuits, and I think that's where the Legislature needs to be careful."

State Rep. Mele Carroll, a Democrat representing residents of East Maui, Molokai and Lanai, said the only way the Legislature could effectively alter the furlough negotiation process would be to change the collective-bargaining law, and she doesn't believe lawmakers should take such an extreme measure.

"Hopefully, the sides will come to an agreement before we need to get involved," she said.

State Rep. Angus McKelvey, a Democrat serving West Maui residents, said he was reviewing proposals, including one to dedicate $1 of the state's oil tax to restoring instructional days. His proposal would be an alternative to other measures, such as raising the general excise tax.

"We're going to come up with something, that's the underlying thing," McKelvey said. "We will come up with something to end furloughs as soon as possible."

Perhaps the answer could come from public school parents, said Rep. Joe Bertram III, a Democrat representing South Maui residents. He said the state Department of Education should look to the grass-roots level for ideas.

"We gotta go back to parents and teachers and ask them, 'What do we do?' How do we keep (students) in school and give them the time they need without spending more than this amount of funds?"

* Claudine San Nicolas can be reached at claudine@maui news.com. Staff Writers Ilima Loomis and Chris Hamilton contributed to this report.

Original article URL: http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/527806.html

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