Harris campaign,
Enron boost reformThe issue: Congress and the
Legislature are considering
measures to restrict "soft" money.JUST as the Enron scandal has spurred efforts to enact federal campaign finance reforms, alleged violations in contributions to Mayor Harris's 2000 re-election campaign have energized state legislation. It shouldn't have taken such controversies to bring needed reforms to the forefront, but the opportunity should not be allowed to pass at either level.
Similar bills died in the last Congress and last year's session of the Legislature, but public attention to ethical breaches have changed the political landscape, thanks to Enron Corp., which spent millions of dollars in the last campaign, and overly generous Hawaii contributors.
"If the nation's largest bankruptcy coupled with a clear example of paid political influence isn't a prime case for reform, I don't know what is," Rep. Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo., the House minority leader, said in his party's response to President Bush's State of the Union address. Bush spurned the request by Senate sponsors of campaign reform to promise that he will sign the measure if it reaches his desk, but he has indicated he will not veto it.
The federal bill would prohibit donations by corporations, labor unions and wealthy individuals to political parties. In the last election, those contributions totaled nearly $500 million, much of it spent on negative "issue ads" to skirt individual candidates' spending limits.
The state bill would forbid corporations and labor unions from contributing to political campaigns. They would be allowed to give money to political action committees, as allowed under federal law, and would be limited in how much they could contribute to political parties. The federal legislation exempts state and local parties from its prohibitions.
The state bill, supported by Robert Watada, the state Campaign Spending Commission's executive director, would forbid anyone who has a contract with the state or counties from contributing to candidates or political parties. Watada has referred the commission's allegations against the Harris campaign to the city prosecutor for possible criminal charges.
"I believe the public is outraged as it listens to the evidence on the Harris campaign and, as a result, legislators are very sensitive to the fact that people are looking at what we are doing," said Senate Vice President Colleen Hanabusa, Democrat of Waianae, who was optimistic about the chances for passage of the bill.
With congressional action seemingly imminent, state legislators should be cognizant not only of existing federal law but what is likely to become federal law. Laws between the two levels of politics should be compatible.
School bell will ring late
for some childrenThe issue: A bill would delay
kindergarten enrollment for
children born later in the year.The Legislature is considering a bill that would hold up enrollment of 5-year-olds in kindergarten, depending on when they reach that age. Children whose fifth birthdays fall after Sept. 1 would not be eligible in the 2002-2003 school year. The cut-off date for the 2003-2004 school year would be a June 30 birthday. At present, children can enter kindergarten if they reach age 5 by Dec. 31.
Educators generally agree that age alone should not determine whether a child is ready to go to school. Some researchers say that children pushed ahead a year in school benefit from that early teaching while others contend that they encounter learning and disciplinary problems later. In that case, delaying enrollment can benefit children not ready for the classroom.
The proposed change would decrease kindergarten enrollment by about half and save the Department of Education $4.5 million in the first year and $10 million in the second. Senate Education Committee chairman Norman Sakamoto says the bill, which requires that any savings be applied to other educational programs, is not intended as a budget-cutting measure even though the state has lower tax revenue expectations.
The bill points to an analysis of March 1998 data that indicates a "correlation between birth month and learning disability certification." A compilation of research funded by the U.S. Department of Education, however, says such studies have failed to provide a clear picture of the short- and long-term effects of enrollment delays. It says that although postponing school may raise a child's academic achievement, the child may become alienated and have behavioral problems.
In addition, teachers report that wider age spans present disciplinary difficulties in the classroom. The analysis further showed that adolescents whose school entry had been delayed exhibited more behavioral problems than their classmates.
The report suggests, as do education and psychology experts, that although a child's age is one indicator of classroom readiness, not every 5-year-old is prepared to go to school while a child a few months younger may well be. Moreover, education authorities believe that exposure to learning early in children's lives greatly improves their chances for successful schooling.
The issue here is that lawmakers appear to be setting the agenda for education when it should be left to educators and the parents of the children in question. It is a continuation of the divisive priorities and diffused decision-making that has brought Hawaii's public education to its present disarray.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
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