Governor blasts
schools chief

He criticizes the idea that the
feds should resolve Hawaii's
education problems

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By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com

Gov. Ben Cayetano criticized a suggestion by state schools chief Paul LeMahieu that a federal judge should step in to solve the teachers' contract dispute.

"I would not agree with it because it would be an invasion of state's rights. Hawaii is a sovereign American state, we're not a subsidiary of the federal government; and if the superintendent would ever propose that, then I would suggest he look for another job," Cayetano told reporters yesterday.

LeMahieu said he feels caught in the middle of the "highly politically charged" contract dispute between the governor and the Hawaii State Teachers Association.

"There's a third voice that isn't being heard as the two primary disputants argue the correctness of their position and try to recruit everybody to one side or the other.

"The third voice that isn't being heard is the voice of the child, the needs of this school system," LeMahieu said.

"I think both sides have let our teachers down in some fashion or other. I think the continuing dispute lets our students down."

Cayetano made the comments at a news conference he called to "clear the air" about figures being used to show the severity of the teachers shortage.

Earlier in the week, LeMahieu joined U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink and others to make a plea for more people to apply for teaching positions in light of a teachers shortage.

Cayetano said he is not trying to downplay the teachers shortage, but he wants accurate numbers to be used to characterize the status.

"We all know there's a shortage of teachers. There's a national shortage of teachers," the governor said.

Cayetano said that because of publicity about an increase in the shortage of teachers to 437 positions, the public thinks there is a major shortage in special-education teachers.

Last year, there were 215 special-education teacher vacancies, and this year so far, there are 129 vacancies.

The state is under a federal consent decree to improve mental health and educational services to special-needs students, including beefing up the number of licensed or certified special-education teachers.

If the state does not meet certain benchmarks and deadlines by Nov. 1, the state's special-education system faces a federal takeover.

"People who want to resolve this -- not only the contract bonus issue, but also the special-ed target that was set by Judge Ezra -- we need to make sure that we are talking about numbers that are accurate," Cayetano said.

Cayetano also said the union is spinning the shortage numbers to get more money out of the current contract dispute over 3 percent bonuses to teachers with master's degrees and professional diplomas.

LeMahieu said the numbers on teacher vacancies he has used throughout the week have been consistent.

He said earlier this week that final numbers will not be available until department staff members determine the official enrollment count, which is used to calculate teacher positions.

Cayetano said the federal court would be overstepping its boundaries if it ordered the implementation of the most of the teachers contract except the disputed section.

"It is not the court's place to get into collective-bargaining issues between the state and any other party," Cayetano said. "I think that if the federal court or Judge Ezra wants to do something with the school system, he has to live and stay within the boundaries of the consent decree."

If LeMahieu makes such a suggestion, he should look for another job, "because it's his responsibility and that's the reason he was hired -- to try to resolve this problem," he said.

LeMahieu said he is willing to look at all options to solve the contract dispute and reach compliance in the consent decree.

The contract dispute is probably one of the reasons more teachers have resigned or retired this year than last, he said.

Hawaii State Teachers Association President Karen Ginoza said the numbers the union have been using are coming from the Department of Education.

"We are not spinning the numbers," she said. "The numbers are not fabricated."

The union is concerned about getting qualified teachers for students in the classroom.

Ginoza said LeMahieu and the department should take some responsibility for the shortage as well because the department deals with work issues that have caused some teachers to leave or not be hired.

Board of Education Chairman Herbert Watanabe said the board supports the job that LeMahieu has done so far.

"Yes, we're standing behind him," he said.

But the board has not been briefed on the current controversy with the governor and would need to digest whether or not it warrants reaction from the board.