Expert backs The key to improving Hawaii's public schools lies in creating 11 locally elected boards and letting them operate without interference, except when schools fail to meet standards, said Mary Anne Raywid, a specialist in educational reform.
local school boards
By Susan Essoyan
sessoyan@starbulletin.com
"Hawaii's public schools are in big trouble," she told the Rotary Club of Honolulu in a speech yesterday in Waikiki. "The way the whole operation is run simply must change if any reform is going to work."
Her proposal parallels Gov. Linda Lingle's call for seven local school boards, and would require a constitutional amendment to be approved by voters. A bill to create 10 school boards is also at the top of the education agenda unveiled this week by Republicans at the Legislature.
Bills to create multiple school boards failed in last year's legislative session. The idea has been opposed by the Department of Education and some prominent Democrats.
"At the end of last session, we were not convinced that a system of separate boards would improve student achievement and reduce bureaucracy," said Sen. Norman Sakamoto, Education Committee chairman.
"This is a new year, people have new ideas. I'm not closed to it. The goal should be improving student achievement," said Sakamoto (D, Salt Lake, Foster Village).
Under Hawaii's system, Raywid said, "too many cooks" have their hands on education, with the state Board of Education, legislators, the governor, several state departments and others all micro-managing the schools.
"Decentralization with substantial powers to local districts would make them less amenable to legislative control," she said. "The top-down system is producing failure."
A professor emerita of educational administration at Hofstra University, Raywid is a member of the graduate affiliate faculty at the University of Hawaii and has headed national professional organizations of educators. She has written five books and more than 200 journal articles.
She also recommended giving the Department of Education a dedicated source of funding that it would allocate among the districts. The department should set state standards, issue school report cards and hold principals to four-year performance-based contracts, she said.
All of those proposals are included in bills put forth by the House Republican caucus this week before today's opening of the Legislature. Democrats are waiting until the Legislature officially convenes before unveiling their plans.
One bill offered by the Republicans calls for setting aside personal income tax revenues, roughly $1 billion a year, as minimal funding for public education. Another bill would require schools with more than 400 students to divide into smaller units, even on the same campus, a proposal also embraced by Raywid.
"Hawaii's schools are large enough to invite catastrophe and to assure the failure of disadvantaged students," she said.
State Board of Education
State Department of Education
