Education reform bill
still has a chance

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By Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.com

State lawmakers say there is still time to put educational reform on the November ballot despite having missed a legislative deadline. But first, House members have to convince the Senate that the issue cannot wait any longer.

"We've been talking about decentralization for years now. On the one level it's just time to have us all make a decision here and then go on with the decision," said Rep. Ed Case (D, Manoa), who is leading a bipartisan group of nine House members, including House Education Chairman Ken Ito, in urging senators to pass Senate Bill 2102.

The constitutional amendment bill would let voters decide in the general election whether there should be more community-centered control of Hawaii's public schools via local school boards.

The measure was presumed dead because no action was taken on it before Thursday's deadline for constitutional amendments. But the question could still go before voters if the House and Senate agree by the end of session to a version already transmitted to the governor, lawmakers said.

The measure, which won unanimous approval by the Senate in March, got tripped up last week in a joint House and Senate committee when Senate Education Chairman Norman Sakamoto (D, Moanalua-Salt Lake) deferred action on the bill, saying he did not have the support to pass it through.

"Even though it's our draft and our version, we don't have a comfort level that this is the answer," Sakamoto said yesterday. He said the issue was kept alive in the hopes that it could be improved upon, but unresolved issues remain.

"The Senate caucus, we're not in favor of moving forward on the constitutional amendment this year," he said.

Case said it would be cowardly for senators not to vote on the bill in a public arena.

Education reform "has been supported in concept by virtually all members of the Legislature in open voting," he said.

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