Rushing through school
reforms risks costly mistakesThe issue: Bills before the Legislature would
change the way public schools are governed.STATE lawmakers are responding to the public's distress about education in Hawaii with numerous bills about school governance. That's fine, but the issues are complex and require deliberate examination with clear and specific objectives. The reforms and associated changes in the state Constitution are too substantial to be rushed through a legislative session in an election year.
The public school system has been criticized on several fronts. Among them are teacher accountability, bureaucratic obstacles, curriculum standards, student achievement and community responsiveness. The measures focus primarily on the structure of the Board of Education and the superintendency, but lawmakers should weigh how these changes will affect the whole system.
Many issues are left unaddressed. For example, the measures to decentralize school governance don't deal with equitable distribution of state and federal funds. Other pivotal matters, such as interpretation of standards and curriculum requirements, aren't outlined.
Two bills in the House and another in the Senate would seem to put more barriers in the way of bringing school governance closer to the public. The House version would establish 15 district school boards, each with five members, one of whom also would sit on a statewide board. Instead of reducing layers of governance, this plan would add another. Instead of the present 14-member Board of Education, there would be a total of 75 people trying to run the system. Instead of setting clear lines of authority and accountability, the plan would further diffuse them.
The House bills could inject politics into the superintendency by making the schools chief an appointee of the governor. The present system, in which the superintendent is hired by the board may provide a buffer against political pressure.
Another problem is the two-year term to which board members would be elected. The possibility that a board's makeup may change that often doesn't provide much stability or continuity, particularly because each board also would appoint its own district superintendent.
A better option may be to reorganize the current board to represent smaller districts by assigning the six at-large members to specific regions. Members would then answer directly to the communities that elect them. Lawmakers also should consider giving school districts financial autonomy to use state funds as they see fit, and remove the involvement of other state agencies in such matters as building repairs and purchasing supplies.
The problems with the public school system have been long in the making. While untangling them need not be as time consuming, lawmakers shouldn't rush through the process without meticulous analysis.
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It’s inappropriate
for the state to enact
Medicare supplementThe issue: Hawaii's first lady Vicky
Cayetano is proposing a long-term
health care fund for the elderly.HILLARY Clinton took a prominent role in proposing universal health care early in her husband's first term as president, with disastrous results. Vicky Cayetano is similarly the key proponent of state legislation that would create a long-term health care fund for the elderly. The best that can be said of this proposal, which includes a regressive tax on nearly every worker in the state, is that it comes near the end of the governor's terms in office, not the beginning, so can do his administration less damage. It should be politely rejected.
That is not to say that families are able in all cases to cope with soaring costs of caring for their elderly members, or that the state should not look for ways to help. However, any such assistance, even if necessary as a last resort, should be provided within present budget limitations.
The proposal would create a $10-a-month tax on every worker in the state between the ages of 26 and 92, regardless of income level. After a 10-year vesting period, a person could receive $70 a day for an entire year in long-term health care assistance.
Senate Republican Floor Leader Fred Hemmings of Waimanalo calls the first lady's proposal "a cruel hoax on the elderly in our community who think they are going to get something for nothing, who think they're going to get coverage for $10."
President Bush last month called Medicare, which provides health insurance to 40 million elderly and disabled people, "antiquated" and said its reform is a central goal of his administration. Bush and Democrats in Congress disagree about how to change it, although agreeing that coverage should include prescription drugs. Medicare coverage generally does not cover drugs outside the hospital, and those costs can be enormous for elderly persons receiving home care. Such coverage is badly needed.
Joan White, vice president of Healthcare Association of Hawaii, says private insurance ideally would be the best way to supplement Medicare but private policies have not come close to filling the need. Bush's proposed restructuring of Medicare would encourage more involvement by private health plans. However, Democrats say the $190 billion that the president proposes be spent on reform and drug subsidies over a 10-year period is inadequate.
Marilyn Seely, director of the state Executive Office on Aging, is right in saying families trying to care for the 30,000 older adults who need assistance in Hawaii should not be "forced to choose between paying for a child's education or a parent's care." However, the state should not be expected to create a new tax to provide assistance that should be a federal responsibility.
Medicare costs $240 billion a year, increasing by 10 percent last year. Those costs should rise even more to assure care for baby boomers when they need assistance in their old age. New state supplements should not be required.
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comJohn Flanagan, contributing editor 294-3533; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
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