Gov gives schools
ideas how to save

The budget suggestions
include eliminating two district
offices and boosting the lunch price

Head librarian looks for savings

By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

Consolidating schools, reducing the number of school district offices on Oahu from four to two, increasing the cost of school lunch to $1 and reducing or deleting funds for programs are just some of the actions the Department of Education could take if budget cuts become necessary, Gov. Ben Cayetano has suggested.

In an Aug. 13 letter to Board of Education Chairman Mitsugi Nakashima, Cayetano said these are some of the options the board may want to consider to bring state expenditures in line with revenues.

Cayetano is ordering all departments to identify areas to cut during the current and next fiscal years. "I am confident that every agency can find ways to be more efficient and find room for improvement," he wrote.

The Department of Education is being asked to review its $820 million budget and look for ways to cut up to $7.4 million this year and up to $13.4 million the following year. It's not yet known when or if the cuts will actually take effect.

Cayetano wrote that options the department might want to consider include:

Reduce Oahu school district offices from four to two. The districts would be divided into West and East Oahu, eliminating staffing for the current Windward and Leeward districts, which have fewer positions than the Honolulu and Central Districts. Potential savings would amount to $747,480.
Consolidate small schools -- those with enrollment below 250 that include Kaelepulu, Wailupe, Liliuokalani, Waiahole and Kaaawa -- with nearby schools. Savings of $200,000 per elementary school would be realized through deleting funds and positions for a principal, clerical staff, cafeteria manager, librarian, head custodian, electricity and lump sum budget money. Schools that would receive the students from the small schools may need portable classrooms to accommodate the additional students.
Look at intermediate and high schools with declining enrollment for possible consolidation. Two schools mentioned by the governor are Central Middle School and Kalani High School. The potential savings would be $300,000 per intermediate school and $500,000 per high school.
Cut or eliminate supplemental, non-academic and administrative programs. The potential savings would amount to $7.7 million.
Restore the school lunch formula that would mean an increase from 75 cents to $1 for school lunch. The increase would generate $3.1 million.
Reduce 325 vacant non-teacher positions for which money has been allocated, a potential savings of $6.2 million.

The department has not yet submitted its recommendation to the Board of Education on how it plans to comply with the edict.

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State librarian balks
at closing small ones

By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

Gov. Ben Cayetano's suggestion that small libraries be closed to help offset a projected shortfall in the state budget won't work, according to the state librarian.

Closing small libraries will not necessarily generate the $240,000 per small library savings the Cayetano administration laid out in an Aug. 13 memo and will take away from the public libraries the constitutional directive of providing services to all residents, state Librarian Virginia Lowell said.

The governor's memo came up yesterday during a Board of Education committee meeting that discussed his suggestion that the library system close small libraries and eliminate 47 full-time vacant positions.

The public libraries are being asked to come up with up to $782,000 in cuts for this fiscal year and $1.5 million for the next fiscal year, cuts of 2 to 4 percent.

Lowell told the committee she is in the process of drafting a final plan that details how she proposes to accomplish the cuts. She said she hopes to present her recommendations to the full board at its next meeting.

One thing that is not in the picture at this point is the closing of libraries, she said.