DOE attempts triage
on school services
Budget planners propose
By Debra Barayuga
cutting instruction days to help
fill a $31 million gap
Star-BulletinPublic school lunch fees and bus fares are likely to remain the same next school year, but A+ fees could go up.
Teachers for basic skills and core teaching programs, librarians, programs for at-risk students and instructional resource augmentation specialists, or IRAs, who teach music, art, computer or gifted and talented classes, escaped being cut in the latest round of talks on how to balance the Department of Education's budget.
Budget committee members yesterday debated for nearly four hours in an attempt to preserve direct services for the classroom while deferring others to the next biennium.
The committee is expected to come up with its final recommendation for the full board's approval today.
"Somebody will come out hurt and screaming," said board member Kelly King, who noted that the Legislature, not the board, is responsible for the cuts by not funding the schools' $31 million supplemental budget. "The Legislature handed us a knife and said, 'Decide where to cut.'"
The supplemental budget had grown from $25 million to $31 million in recent months to cover a projected increase in special-education students and provide the DOE's share of funding for the Youth Challenge program for alienated youth.
From the $31 million, the budget committee yesterday found it could shave off $1.5 million by keeping security guards, health aides and educational assistants at home during the seven additional instructional days tacked onto the new teachers' contract.
Without these essential staff, students would also have to stay home.
Teachers could use one or more of those seven days for staff development and teacher training for Felix and Individuals with Disabilities Act mandates, said Joan Husted, deputy executive director for the Hawaii State Teacher's Association.
It's a "golden opportunity" for the DOE to transfer the cost-savings to other essential programs until the Legislature provides the funds, she said.
If the teachers use the seven days for staff development, waiver days that schools had earlier requested and were granted could be rescinded, said budget chairman Mitsugi Nakashima.
Board members agree that programs outside the schools, such as the Kokee Discovery Center, Challenger Center, or Onizuka Memorial Museum are worthwhile. Meanwhile, basic fundamental programs are not being funded, said board member Francis McMillen, who supports the schools having flexibility in spending their priority funds as they see fit.
Other areas the board felt should be funded included:
Enrollment increase in special education, $4.4 million
To meet its needs, the committee agreed to put off $13.3 million for vice principals, clerk typists, school security attendants and classroom cleaners to the next biennium budget.
Classroom equipment, textbooks and infrastructure for new schools and facilities were also carried over.
They also agreed to consider cuts including summer school tuition waivers, $1.1 million; innovative and incentive grants, $1.7 million; state and district travel, $1.2 million; and extra funding for special-needs schools, $3.1 million.
Schools Superintendent Herman Aizawa proposed raising A+ fees to make the afterschool program more efficient. Fees could go up by $15 for students paying full tuition and by $2 for students who qualify for free and reduced lunch.
Administrative rules allows the board to raise A+ afterschool program fees to $75, said board member Winston Sakurai.
Raising bus fares and school lunch probably won't happen this year because those would require public hearings, he said.
The board will vote on whether to approve the committee's recommendations at its meeting on Kauai tomorrow.
Public school students
By Debra Barayuga
lost 16,000 textbooks
Star-BulletinPublic school students in the secondary schools lost over 16,000 textbooks in 1996-97.
Nanakuli High and Intermediate posted the highest losses with 2,353 textbooks unreturned, followed by Waiakea High with 2,318 books and Konawaena High with 1,350 books.
Lost or missing textbooks has been an ongoing problem in the schools for decades. But the solution, school officials say, will require more than denying students parking passes or banning them from walking the line at graduation.
"We definitely need more responsibility on the part of students and reinforcement from parents to get books back at the end of they year," said Francine Grudzias, director in the DOE's Office of Accountability and School Instructional Support.
While textbook losses vary from year to year, principals are concerned because the losses impact the limited resources they have if they have to continually replace textbooks. A social studies text, for example, can range from $40 to $60.
The schools spent over $1.1 million on textbooks for 1996-97, but recovered only $168,906.
One of the difficulties principals face is striking a balance with enforcement and not hindering the students right to a public education, Grudzias said.
Schools, for example, are prohibited from withholding a student's schedule or diploma. But they can restrict a student's participation from proms or dances.
Teachers at the beginning of the year issue textbooks with the expectation they will be returned at the end of the year. When they don't come back, most all schools issue withholding slips that notify students they are responsible for the return or replacement cost of the book.
By law, schools can charge for the replacement cost. Schools prefer to have the books returned.
"It's not so much we want the money more than we want the books back so other students can use them," Grudzias said.
Kailua High, which spent over $26,000 on texts for 1996-97, recovered only $2,500 from students that year.
The school can only "remind, remind, remind" students of their obligation, said Anne Higashi, school administrative services assistant.
Lists are sent to homeroom teachers and posted on bulletin boards to remind students and it eventually catches up with them, even if it takes a few years, she said.
If a student fails to return or pay replacement fees in the ninth grade, a withholding slip will follow them to their senior year and even and after they graduate, Higashi said.
Schools set their priorities under lump-sum budgeting and continue to purchase replacement texts however if they feel its the best means of instruction, Grudzias.
Legislation passed this session allows the Board of Education to charge deposit fees for books. But the DOE needs to explore that further. "Especially in harsh economic times, this may create a hardship for some of our families and we're concerned about that," Grudzias said.
Also a concern is the burden this would place on schools to collect and refund fees, particularly schools with high transient populations.
