ASSOCIATED PRESS Gov. Linda Lingle read to third-graders yesterday at Hickam Elementary School. Afterward she talked with reporters.
Gov. Linda Lingle struck similarities with the reptilian subject of a children's book she read yesterday as she made a final push for education reform through the creation of seven elected local school boards - a plan legislators have so far rejected. Lingle implores legislators
to approve her education plan
By Matt Sedensky
Associated PressLingle read to a classroom of third-graders at Hickam Elementary School the story of a young gecko who is tired of his dullness, who simply wants to shine, who vows, "I want to be different with all my heart."
Afterward, the Republican governor spoke with reporters and accused Democratic lawmakers of "playing politics with children's education" and implored them to fix Hawaii's broken school system, make it different, give it a chance to shine.
"All we're asking the Legislature to do is to allow the people of Hawaii to decide," Lingle said about her plan to splinter the nation's only statewide school district into seven locally governed parts. "We're not going to let it die a quiet death in this session."
Legislatively, however, the governor's education plan seems far from alive.
Lingle's proposals to exclude public school principals from union contracts and to make their employment contingent upon student achievement and community input were referred to three House committees. Two committees have heard the plans already and recommended they be held.
And the heart of Lingle's education plan - to allow a ballot question asking voters to decide on a constitutional amendment to create local school boards - was deferred by the House Education Committee.
Instead, House lawmakers passed a plan Tuesday to create 15 Complex Area School Councils which would have the authority to conduct evaluations of superintendents, prioritize capital improvements, evaluate curriculum, manage grants and purchase supplies and equipment. The plan, which now goes to the Senate, has the support of the state Board of Education and Schools Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto.
Lingle said the plan "would offer no autonomy" for the local councils and said it was "an attempt to fool the public into thinking something has really changed."
Lingle said her plan would allow local tailoring of curriculum while adhering to statewide standards. She said it would refuel parent involvement in schools and put power back in communities.
The plan, Lingle said, is overwhelmingly supported by Hawaii's residents. She pointed to a telephone poll sponsored by the Hawaii Business Roundtable, the Pacific Resource Partnership and Enterprise Honolulu that showed about 66 percent of respondents wanted to see the school board divided. The poll of 700 people statewide was conducted Jan. 11-19 and had a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.
There were no signs of such partisanship among the 23 wide-eyed children who attentively listened to Lingle read.
One child asked for the governor's autograph. Lingle promised to send business cards with her signature to all the children. And she left her copy of "The Gecko Who Wanted to Be Different" with a message on the inside front cover: "Aloha Students, Work hard in school - Linda Lingle."
Office of the Governor
