Court-appointed A LOOMING STRIKE by public school teachers and the uncertainty of funding for special-education services have increased the chances of a federal takeover of Hawaii's public school system, a report by a court-appointed monitor indicates.
monitor warns of
fed takeover of
Hawaii schools
A teachers strike and uncertain
funding could affect the state's
compliance with the Felix
consent decreeTeachers' notice of strike
to be given todayBy Crystal Kua
Star-BulletinIvor Groves points out in his latest status report that several problems jeopardize the state's compliance in the Felix consent decree, a federal court order to improve services to special-needs children.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra has said if the state fails to comply with the Felix decree, he will put Hawaii's public schools under the control of the federal court.
Among the problems cited in Groves' report is the possibility that an April teachers strike would have a direct impact on students covered by the consent decree and would hinder compliance testing. Also, the report notes, the state departments of Education and Health could run out of money to pay bills for services for the affected children because the Legislature has not yet approved emergency money requested for this fiscal year.
Groves said in the report that he intends to seek a restraining order to prevent services from being reduced or disrupted.
"WITH ALL OF THAT HAPPENING, the state is going to lose its education system," said Eric Seitz, an attorney representing plaintiffs in the Felix case.
Another plaintiffs' attorney, Shelby Floyd, added: "I think overall compliance is already jeopardized. The report reflects that fact."
The consent decree is the result of a 1993 lawsuit filed for Jennifer Felix and other special-needs students. The lawsuit alleged that the state was in violation of federal law for failing to provide adequate educational and mental health services to special-needs children.
The state in 1994 settled the lawsuit and entered into the consent decree to meet the requirements under the law.
Judge Ezra found the state in contempt of court last year after the state failed to meet the compliance deadline. He then gave the state until the end of this year to fulfill its obligations under close scrutiny by the court monitor.
If the state continues to fall short, Ezra threatened to have the federal court run the public school system.
Groves' quarterly status report was filed Monday in federal court and is the second to be issued since the contempt finding.
The report said that as of Feb. 27 a total of 154 schools, or 59 percent of Hawaii's 261 public schools, are either in full or provisional compliance. Groves said that out of the 36 benchmarks that the state is supposed to meet by now, nine have not been met.
The unmet benchmarks include assessing reading levels of each child and getting a computerized information system up and running.
THE REPORT ALSO CITES several "challenging issues" facing the departments of Education and Health in attempting to achieve and sustain compliance. Those issues include:
>> The Legislature so far has reduced the departments' budget requests for the next two fiscal years, which could delay compliance and derail the state's effort to show that it can sustain compliance in the future.
The monitor said he is hearing reports of schools refusing to provide service because of the cost, and blocking children from being considered eligible for special-needs service -- issues that prompted the Felix lawsuit to be filed.
>> Compliance on Molokai is being hampered by serious shortages of qualified personnel.
Seitz said the monitor's report is Groves' "mild-mannered way of saying he is very upset."
Groves could not be reached for comment.
Seitz and Floyd said they agree with Groves' recommendations to overcome the deficiencies stated in the status report, but they are concerned that the departments may not be able to deliver.
"He has set down for them a series of obligations to complete over the next 30 to 60 days," Seitz said. "It's very difficult for them to do."
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL Russell Suzuki declined to comment and referred questions to state schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu, who could not be reached for comment.
Sen. Norman Sakamoto, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said the DOE's emergency appropriation is moving through the Legislature, and he believes the department does have the money to pay for the current year's services.
Seitz said the cost of the federal court taking over the system could be billions of dollars in the long run, and state leaders should do what they can to prevent that from happening, including settling the teachers' contract negotiations.
All the parties have 10 days to respond to Groves' report. No court date has been scheduled.
THE HAWAII STATE TEACHERS Association today planned to give official notice of intent to strike on April 5 despite state actions. Teachers’ notice of strike
to be given todayBy Helen Altonn
Star-BulletinJoan Husted, HSTA executive director, said she expected to walk the notice over this afternoon to the Hawaii Labor Relations Board.
Copies will go to the governor, Board of Education and state Deputy Attorney Gen. Francis Keeno.
Keeno has said the 13,000 public school teachers can't strike until two prohibitive practice complaints by the state against the union are resolved.
"We understand the state position but we have to deliver the notice," Husted said today.
HSTA's attorney filed notice yesterday to expedite a hearing on the complaints so it can be finished by April 5, she said.
She said the union expects the attorney general's office to file a request for an injunction to prevent a strike.
"Teachers are willing to give up their pay to fight for kids and the administration is spending its time fighting teachers," Husted said, calling it "anti-collective bargaining."
The state in two complaints alleged the HSTA hasn't bargained in good faith and its picketing instructions violate rights of teachers who choose to cross the picket line.
The union counters that these are strike-delaying tactics.
The HSTA is seeking 22 percent pay raises for teachers. The state has offered 10 percent to 20 percent with an average of 12 percent.
Keeno said if the labor board rules in favor of the state on the complaint alleging the HSTA hasn't bargained in good faith, the strike would have to be postponed so the parties could engage in good-faith bargaining.