Schools chief
seeks budget
of $796 million

Request of $1.6 billion over
2 years details needs and
priorities, he says

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

Schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu is sending a strong message on what he thinks should be invested in Hawaii's public schools for the 1999-2001 biennium.

And it won't come cheap.

"It's a lot more than many will expect," he told Board of Education members yesterday. "But it seems to me it's time to get excited potentially about what we want to do.

"We've got to be driven by programs and priorities, not by a budget figure."

LeMahieu is asking for $796 million in the first fiscal year of the biennium and $794 million in the second year.

Besides the department's current services budget of $704 million, that's an additional $92 million in the first year, and $90 million in the second.

He's also requesting $6.9 million the first year and $8.3 million the second year for 139 school positions to begin working on the backlog of clerical, safety, security and custodial issues.

While a majority of the costs are covered by reallocating existing resources, the department's needs go beyond that, LeMahieu said.

The proposed budget includes funding to meet the department's legal obligations under the Felix consent decree -- to identify students with special needs and adequately provide educational and mental health services by June 2000 and also comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Act.

Given the past several years of partially funded and unfunded requests totaling $143 million, the department needs additional supplies and staffing, LeMahieu said.

The budget also includes what he believes are priorities for the school system, such as implementation of the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards, which outline what students should know, and development of a top-notch assessment system.

The budget banks on an additional $11 million based on Gov. Ben Cayetano's promise to seek that amount from the Legislature in the next session.

The public needs to keep in mind that the department is in a catch-up mode, said board member Mitsugi Nakashima. "The superintendent is saying this is the vision the DOE has for providing quality education, and this is what we need to deliver that vision."

In the past, when the department's budget was presented to the Legislature, emphasis on important items that needed to be funded was lost and funding was cut as a result, Nakashima said.

The budget, as presented by LeMahieu, will help the department and the school board do a better job of communicating to the public and the Legislature what it plans to do, said board member John Compton.

While LeMahieu doesn't expect the department to get everything it asks for, he said he hopes at the least for "a good, hard conversation" focused on the programs that really matter.