OUR OPINION
Public school repairs should be state priority
THE ISSUE
Legislators hope to aim some of the state's surplus revenue at fixing up schools.
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A SURPLUS of revenues should bring to an end the long neglect of Hawaii's public school facilities. Though requests for increases in funding have come from other state entities, repairs and maintenance at schools should be at the top of the list for new allocations.
A healthy economy likely will add as much as $600 million to the state's treasury. When the state legislative session opens next week, the Department of Education is prepared to request nearly $450 million with $350 million aimed at repair work.
The department's submission far exceeds the $138.8 million total Governor Lingle has proposed and the $200 million Senate and House leaders are contemplating for schools.
Nonetheless, improvements of classrooms and other school buildings have been placed on hold during lean money years and deferred fixes have accumulated a backlog of an estimated $525 million in needed repairs. Leaky roofs, peeling paint and cracked walls are more common than not at many school facilities and unless addressed now conditions will continue to deteriorate, increasing costs over time.
While repairs will primarily benefit students, funds also would prepare some school facilities for use as emergency shelters, a need that became all the more apparent after Hurricane Katrina.
In addition, legislative leaders hope to provide money -- about $30 million over three years -- to ease the transition to a new method of allocating funds to schools called the weighted student formula.
The formula, which ties the amount a school receives to educational needs of each student, will result in cuts that some schools, including smaller and rural ones, say will hurt overall operations. The funding might be needed as education leaders adjust the formula, but should not interfere with the system that was designed to move more money to classroom needs.
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