Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Editorials
Thursday, January 20, 2000Education reform
is a worthy objectiveTHE 2000 session of the state Legislature was launched yesterday with calls for educational reform. No one could dispute that there is much room for improvement in Hawaii's public schools, but success in achieving improvement has been elusive.The issue: Education reform was the theme of legislative leaders at the opening-day ceremonies.
Unfortunately, there was little indication of consensus on what sort of reform is needed. Senate President Norman Mizuguchi, who last year produced a dud with a proposal to give the Board of Education authority to raise taxes to finance the school system, took a more cautious approach this time.
Mizuguchi wants the Legislative Reference Bureau to design a system that encourages competition among schools for resources and students. It would seem that the Department of Education, rather than the Legislative Reference Bureau, should be assigned that task, although it probably would have to hire consultants. Still, the concept of school choice is a useful one that should be applied more widely in the Hawaii system.
In his opening-day remarks, House Speaker Calvin Say praised the University of Hawaii for carrying through with "a painful process of deciding which programs were core to the university's mission and cutting those that weren't." Say said the UH had made cuts needed to balance its budget and developed innovative ways to enhance sources of revenue.
As the speaker noted, the process has been painful. Many were unhappy with the decision to close the School of Public Health and transfer some of its programs to the School of Medicine.
More such decisions may be needed, but they are also likely to be painful. Legislators can ease the pain by refraining from making further cuts in the university budget and even perhaps restoring funding that was previously cut.
At present responsibility for the public schools is divided among the elected board, the governor and the Legislature. Giving the governor direct responsibility for the schools by authorizing him to appoint the members of the Board of Education might improve the system. However, the voters have shown that they like the idea of the elected board, and legislators are unlikely to buck public sentiment.
It's easy to like a winner, and both Mizuguchi and Say mentioned UH football Coach June Jones, who engineered the Rainbows' spectacular turnaround last season.
Unfortunately, turning around Hawaii's educational system is likely to be considerably more difficult. The teachers' union balks at any reforms that could weaken job security, money is still tight, and governance of the system suffers from divided responsibility.
Good Friday holiday
GOOD Friday is observed as a public holiday by Hawaii and 11 other states, and the U.S. Supreme Court once again has declined to consider constitutional challenges of the designation. The high court's refusal to disturb Maryland's Good Friday public-school holiday leaves all the others intact, allowing a three-day holiday to continue for Christians and non-Christians alike.
The American Civil Liberties Union has long maintained that designation of the Friday before Easter as a public holiday in commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus violates the constitutional separation of church and state. The ACLU's contention that Good Friday should not be observed by government is understandable.
However, the reality is that few students would attend class on Good Friday if schools were open. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, upholding the Maryland law, said the long weekend's purpose is to avoid high absenteeism among teachers and students on the days surrounding Easter. Maryland's Montgomery County also closes schools on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, and the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, for the same reason.
When the ACLU challenged Hawaii's Good Friday law in 1987, the state argued that it was intended not as a religious observance but to increase the number and frequency of holidays. Federal Judge Alan Kay suggested that its widespread observance has transcended religious purposes, similar to Thanksgiving and Christmas. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Kay's ruling, and the Supreme Court in 1992 declined to review the case.
Conversely, the high court's 1996 refusal to review a decision that Wisconsin's Good Friday law was unconstitutional indicates that the court has decided to allow the states to decide the issue.
The principle of separation of church and state is a guide to interpreting the Constitution, not an iron-clad rule. The Supreme Court's rulings provide no justification for tampering with Hawaii's 59-year-old Good Friday law.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
