Local school boards
get new push from LingleThe governor believes she has
addressed opponents' concerns
Gov. Linda Lingle has again taken her case for local school boards to the Legislature, reminding lawmakers that both chambers each passed a measure in 2002 that would have let voters decide the issue, just as she as asking them to do now.
Lingle, who unsuccessfully lobbied lawmakers on the issue last year, challenged House committee members yesterday to again support the idea this year.
The governor said she believes she has answered concerns raised by opponents who stifled the measure last year saying the administration hadn't provided enough detail on how the plan would be implemented.
"We've done our best to lay out the details," Lingle said, noting that she has submitted a 114-page proposal that includes a plan for setting up at least seven local school boards over two years.
People on both sides of the local school board issue had the opportunity to speak on the measure during a 3-hour, 45-minute joint hearing of the House Education and Judiciary committees.
Schools Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto, who delivered the first "state of the public schools" address to the Legislature on Wednesday, again stated the Department of Education's opposition to local school boards.
"Creating additional governing boards which are removed from the classroom would not give us the best chance of achieving our common aspiration for the individual student," Hamamoto said in written testimony to the committees. "Rather, it may detract from it by adding more bureaucracy and inequality to the business of educating our children."
Hamamoto has instead asked lawmakers to give principals more control over daily operations, get more money directly to schools and free the Department of Education from its ties to other state agencies, thus giving it more autonomy and authority to try and bring about positive change.
Committee members waded through more than 150 pieces of written testimony submitted for yesterday's hearing, more than 100 of which were brief -- sometimes two-sentence statements -- in support of Lingle's proposal.
Some two dozen statements were submitted in opposition, almost all of them from current or former educators and faculty members.
"I do not believe this will provide better representation to the local schools in any way," wrote Ruth Holmberg, principal at Sunset Beach Elementary School. "It will create competition for the same dollars both locally and statewide."
Romeo Eleno, a teacher at Lanai High & Elementary School, said he felt the issue didn't make sense. "She's setting up the public to vote on something, just to vote," Eleno wrote. "It almost feels like she's deliberately setting up a fight (between) the public and the teachers."
The committees deferred making a decision on Lingle's bill until next week.