Budget cuts Public schools will keep running short of basics from toilet paper and textbooks to support staff, under spending and hiring restrictions imposed by the Lingle administration, educators said yesterday.
spell crisis for
public schools
Educators say schools
will keep running out
of books and basicsBy Susan Essoyan
sessoyan@starbulletin.com
"The budget cuts on paper may look manageable, but when you come into our classrooms, you can see the difference," Lynn Mochizuki, a teacher at Benjamin Parker School in Kaneohe, told the House Finance Committee.
"Our school adopted a new reading program, but there wasn't money to buy enough textbooks and workbooks. Custodial supplies are also limited. Children end up bringing in Kleenex, paper towels and toilet paper."
The committee got an earful from teachers, principals and administrators invited to describe the effect of $25 million in cuts to the Department of Education's operating budget over the next two and a half years. Spending cutbacks have already sliced into basic needs, they said, and schools can't afford to trim further.
Gov. Linda Lingle has imposed a $3 million reduction between now and the end of this fiscal year on June 30, and $11 million in each of the next two fiscal years. The Department of Education's general fund appropriation was $1.3 billion for its operating budget this year.
Among the items chopped by the new administration from next year's proposed budget are $3 million in custodial supplies, $2.5 million for charter schools and $2 million in contracted school safety managers. The governor has also instituted a hiring freeze on vacant positions.
"We try to be creative, but you can only be so creative. We can only go so far," said Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto. "What we're lacking right now are teachers and the funds to support them."
She said the administration's hiring freeze has prevented the department from hiring even for positions that are fully funded by the federal government, such as those associated with the No Child Left Behind Act. And support staffs are so short that offices such as human resources and business services are severely hampered, Hamamoto said.
"School-level instructional positions are being filled, but the infrastructure to fill them is eroding and cannot bear further restrictions in hiring," she said. "Support services have already been cut to the bone."
Yesterday's informational briefing was one of a series being held by the Finance Committee to consider the impact of budget cuts on various state departments. Only representatives of the Department of Education were invited to speak.
Gov. Linda Lingle has said the cuts are necessary to balance the state budget without tapping sources like the Hurricane Fund. She has said that the state must stop dipping into such nonrecurring revenue sources, which are at best stop-gap solutions.
In questioning Hamamoto, Rep. Colleen Meyer (R, Laie-Kahaluu) noted that an $11-million cut "is less than 1 percent of the general fund budget" for the school system.
But several members of the committee appeared receptive to the department's pleas.
"You've been asked to trim the fat and asked to trim the muscle, and this year, would you agree with me that you're being asked to trim the bone?" asked Rep. Tommy Waters (D, Lanikai-Waimanalo).
Hamamoto agreed.
"Everyone talks about helping education," said Committee Chair Dwight Takamine (D, Hawi-Hilo). "This administration has said that repeatedly. If we are all truly supportive of education, these are not the kinds of impacts we would want to see."
He seemed nonplused that federally funded positions were-n't being filled, and that even charter school funding was reduced from that proposed by the Cayetano administration for the next biennium, although Lingle has made support for such schools a priority.
This year's budget had already seen cuts under the previous governor that included $3.6 million in computer education and $1 million in instructional materials. "We no longer have computer funds," said Gary Griffiths, a complex area superintendent. "That's amazing. This is the 21st century."
He also lamented reductions in recent years in programs to help keep alienated youth in school, as well as cuts in after-school instruction and athletics, saying that given the scourge of drugs, "we shouldn't be cutting back on these programs, we should be expanding them."
Nancy Mac Gregor, who teaches third grade at Waimea Elementary School on the Big Island, flew to Honolulu to testify that her school cannot stand any more cutbacks.
"I started the school year with three broken chairs, and I had to beg and borrow in order to have all my students sitting in class," she said. "Music, art and PE do not exist at our school because of cutbacks in funds."
State Department of Education