[ OUR OPINION ]

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Audits show the way
to aid weak schools

THE ISSUE Independent assessments of 47 of Hawaii's weakest public schools have pinpointed their problems and offered solutions.

WHILE the state's leaders quarrel about the constitutional amendments and configurations for school boards, objective audits of troubled public schools have identified particular problems that need fixing to help students do better. The Department of Education has initiated plans for changes, forming teams to provide aid, but it should move swiftly on the recommendations.

Some of the issues pinpointed by auditors PriceWaterhouse-Coopers are similar to those the department and other groups have marked in the effort to reform the education system, but the specifics for each of the 47 schools that were examined should provide clear direction for improvement.

Auditors found that the poorest performing schools lacked coordination of curriculum and instructional standards, parental involvement in their children's education, a stable force of teachers and strong leadership. These deficiencies aren't surprising, but they emphasize that mending education should focus first on the campus and the classroom.

Also not surprising is that troubled schools have students from low-income and non-English-speaking families. Other factors include transient populations and growing special education needs. Most of the schools are in rural areas like Leeward Oahu and on the Big Island.

The audit cited lack of resources -- financial as well as staffing -- as a reason schools lag behind. It recommends increasing professional development, but high teacher and administrative turnovers, a continual problem at troubled schools, could nullify that effort. The department also should consider providing incentives for teachers and principals to stay put after receiving augmented training.

Getting parents involved in their children is more difficult. Many in low-income areas are single parents who may work several jobs and have little time to monitor their children's progress, but they should be encouraged through outreach programs.

The department's plan to send in support teams to the 25 most unsatisfactory schools is sensible. It should give educators and administrators an opportunity to better their performance. However, it also should weed out those who buck changes. There's no room for the unwilling

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Attorney general
should be elected

THE ISSUE The City Council is considering proposals to make the corporation counsel an elective office or combine it with the city prosecutor's office.

CITY Councilman Charles Djou has proposed that the offices of the city prosecutor and the corporation counsel be merged into one that would handle both criminal and civil cases. The proposal lacks an understanding of how those offices now function and should be disregarded. The Council instead is considering the idea of making the corporation counsel an elective office. State legislation making the attorney general an elective office should be a higher priority.

Like the state Office of Attorney General, the corporation counsel ideally should be an extension of the people, not the city bureaucracy. As long as the attorney general and corporation counsel are appointed positions instead of being elected by voters, they will consider their clients to be, respectively, the governor and Legislature, and the mayor and Council -- not the voters.

The relationship has been made most clear in past years when the media has sought information from the attorney general, only to be told that the information is protected by attorney-client privilege -- the client usually being the governor or a state agency. An elected attorney general would have greater accountability to the people and the independence to prosecute state officials for wrongdoing.

Former Gov. Ben Cayetano endorsed the idea of making the attorney general elective two years ago and was joined by all 15 Republicans then in the Legislature. Only one Democrat sided with Cayetano, and the measure failed. With the governor's office now held by a Republican, this may be the most opportune time to enact such legislation.

The city prosecutor's office became elective in 1980. Current Prosecutor Peter Carlisle says he believes the accountability is proper and that the corporation counsel also should be elected. However, Corporation Counsel David Arakawa says his function is mainly advisory to the city administration and Council, while Carlisle's job is law enforcement. The attorney general also brings criminal prosecution in certain areas of the law.

Djou cites the U.S. attorney's office as a model for a combined prosecutor's and corporation counsel office. However, while the U.S. attorney general serves as both the nation's chief prosecutor and the federal government's legal adviser and defender, the local U.S. attorney offices are concerned mainly with prosecution of wrongdoing, whether through criminal or civil litigation.