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Many education bills awaiting mid-session approval could be lumped together under one category -- the Big Fix -- as in fixin' Felix, repairing dilapidated schools, improving the quality of teaching, attacking an expected principals shortage and serving up a helping of new computers and textbooks. Budget issues may cut
education fixesBy Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin
But the real test -- and biggest battle -- will come in the remaining weeks of the session as state lawmakers decide just how much money is necessary to take care of education needs in Hawaii.
"I guess you could assume that the bills that didn't make it were the result of budget considerations," said Rep. Mark Takai (D, Waimalu), vice chairman of the education committee. "The big picture is the budget."
The Felix consent decree, a federal mandate aimed at improving educational and mental health services to special needs children, will continue to play a major role in the formulation of the budget and other money-related bills because of its huge price tag. The state estimates it will take hundreds of millions of dollars to correct deficiencies.
An emergency appropriation request of $88 million to cover overrun costs in the current fiscal year in the state's plan to meet Felix requirements is continuing to move. But the amount to be appropriated for the plan has yet to be determined.
Bills to implement recommendations by state Auditor Marion Higa are also set for approval.
One bill would establish in statute a working definition of who is covered by the Felix consent decree. The bill would also establish a voucher system in which parents could opt to take their Felix-covered children out of the public school system and into another program.
Another bill would correct discrepancies that Higa's audit showed in the salary structure of educational administrators, which could help recruit and keep principals.
Teachers would benefit under different proposals to improve the quality of teaching in Hawaii, including having the Hawaii Teachers Standard Board take over teacher licensing from the Department of Education.
Meanwhile, House Democrats are looking to tap the state's "rainy day fund" to pay for an infusion of new computers and textbooks into the public school system.
Fixing rundown school buildings and other facilities appears to be a priority of both the House and Senate, with similar bills still alive on both sides.
"It does look like we're on the same path," Takai said.
One area state lawmakers saw fit to fix at the start of session was charter schools -- public schools that are free of many government regulations -- by proposing ideas such as a moratorium on the process to establish charter schools.
But many of those proposals have gone nowhere for now.
Ku Kahakalau, vice president of the Hawaii Association of Charter Schools, said that successful lobbying by charter schools supporters led to the death of four bills they saw as detrimental to the fledgling charter school movement in Hawaii.
"That tells us the process can work. The Legislature does listen," Kahakalau said.
But because anything can happen between now and the end of session, Kahakalau said charter schools aren't letting down their guard just yet. "We're continuing to monitor as much as we can."
State lawmakers would boost their legislative allowance by 50 percent to $7,500 each, under a bill making its way through the session. Bill would
raise allowance for
lawmakersBy Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin
The money is allotted for members' "incidental expenses", but freshman state Rep. Charles Djou (R, Kahaluu-Kaneohe) doesn't support it. Djou and state Rep. Nobu Yonamine (D, Pearl City) were the only two members of the House Finance Committee who opposed the bill as it left the money committee.
"At a time when we're facing a fiscal crunch, trying to find raises for teachers, and at the same time save vital social programs, now is not the time to be raising the legislative allowance," Djou said.
Though the fiscal impact is small, about $190,000 a year for the 76 members of the Legislature, lawmakers should be consistent, Djou said. If they don't fund pay raises for state cabinet members, then they shouldn't increase their own legislative allowance, he said.
State Rep. Ed Case (D, Manoa) said the $5,000 allowance was barely adequate in 1994 and is not enough today. The amount is not even enough to send out a newsletter and survey at the beginning and end of the legislative sessions, he said.
Senate leaders are promising to push ahead with a controversial rollback of income tax cuts that have become a keystone of Gov. Ben Cayetano's economic policy. Senate leaders hanging
tough on knocking
out two tax cutsBy Richard Borreca
Star-Bulletin
A bill in the Senate would halt the second and third stages of the tax cut.
The move could generate as much as $150 million more for the state to spend in the next two years.
The bill also calls for $25-a-person tax credit for all state residents.
But according to Lowell Kalapa, Tax Foundation executive director, there would be a heavy political price to pay.
He said that by stopping the tax cut in place, residents would see either increased deductions in their pay checks, or owe the state a larger tax bill in April 2002, right before the pivotal fall elections.
The House vice speaker, Rep. Sylvia Luke, blasted the Senate's idea.
Luke said that the proposal is "dead on arrival."
But House speaker Calvin Say shot back with his own release, saying Luke's description was premature.
Say promised to give the Senate tax bill "due consideration, as we would with any other bill."
Luke, along with Rep. Scott Saiki, vice chairman of the House labor committee, said in a release that "new leadership in House insists on tax cuts."
Saiki said one way to afford the tax cut would be to reform payments to the state health fund.
Meanwhile, the state Chamber of Commerce also criticized the Senate's plan to halt the income tax cut, saying the rollbacks "started the process of economic recovery in Hawaii."
And Gov. Ben Cayetano has threatened to veto any attempts to eliminate the tax cut
But Sen. Brian Taniguchi, Ways and Means chairman, who first suggested halting the tax cut, said Cayetano's budget won't hold both increased tax reductions and significant new pay raises for public workers and teachers.
"This is a very difficult math problem for us," Taniguchi said.
"People expect us to fund collective bargaining, but how can the governor negotiate if he has no way of funding what he wants to do?" Taniguchi complained.
As for the Chamber of Commerce, he said that while the business group was waiting for tax cuts, it was also asking for increased money for a program to move to the new economy.
"They are asking for state money and they are saying they should be getting state money back, too," Taniguchi said.
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