Education plan
puts the system
on its headA roundtable advises that schools
be given control over spending
In its blueprint to improve public education, the Hawaii Business Roundtable calls for redesigning the system to ensure decisions are made at the school level, and legislators said yesterday they are trying to do just that.
"The goal is the same, for us, for the administration, for the Hawaii Business Roundtable," said House Education Chairman Roy Takumi (D, Pearl City-Pacific Palisades). "And that is to tip that triangle on its head and have the administration serve the needs of the schools" rather than to manage from the top down.
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While common themes are emerging in education reform bills advancing at the Legislature, the details are still murky. The House Finance Committee sent a new version of its bill (House Bill 2002, House Draft 2) to the floor yesterday based on Takumi's description, without a printed copy available. The Senate approved its version (Senate Bill 3238, Senate Draft 2) in a largely partisan vote, 22-3.
Both bills incorporate a new budgeting system, known as weighted student formula, that gives money to schools based on the individual needs of students, with more money allotted for those who are harder to educate. That proposal is backed also by Gov. Linda Lingle and the roundtable.
All sides have also emphasized the importance of empowering principals to make decisions at their schools. The roundtable wants to give them authority over 90 percent of operational expenses at the school, a figure also pushed by the Lingle administration. The House and Senate bills, however, do not specify how much of the budget would be controlled by the principal.
Instead, the Senate bill gives the principals "paramount authority" in decision-making if a school community council cannot reach consensus on such items as the school's academic and financial plan.
"In the current version of the bill, the buck stops with the principal," said Senate Education Chairman Norman Sakamoto (D, Salt Lake-Foster Village).
The House bill calls for principals to work with school-based councils, made up of staff and parents, among others. The principal would function as the chief executive officer, carrying out policies set by the board, and would have just one vote.
Lingle's plan to break up the educational system into seven local school boards, which was voted down 30-20 in the House, got another setback yesterday when the roundtable failed to endorse it.
"We believe that any governance change -- in and of itself -- will have limited impact on student achievement," the roundtable said. "The primary solution for education excellence lies in the classroom teacher and school principal."
It recommended reorganizing the Department of Education to make the system "work for principals and schools" rather than the reverse.
"A cultural shift will occur if schools control the budget for central office services, and the central staff operates on a cost-recovery basis by selling demand-driven services to the schools," it said.
It called for 15 district councils, elected by parents, that would help oversee schools in their districts, help evaluate district managers and principals, and have the power to reject the appointment of district managers.
Laura Thielen, a Board of Education member who is working with the governor to promote local school boards, said that unlike the bills moving in the Legislature, the roundtable "clearly came out in favor of true decentralization in that the schools control the funds."
But she said the roundtable's plan falls short because it does not include local school boards, which she said are necessary to provide oversight and support to ensure that schools succeed.
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Plan lets parents
The Hawaii Business Roundtable's education reform proposal calls for 15 Community School District Councils, elected by parents of the schools they represent, to affirm school budgets and policies and help evaluate district managers and principals, among other duties. Each district council would encompass three high schools and their feeder elementary and intermediate schools. Other roundtable proposals include:
elect councils
>> Empowering principals by giving them more authority, autonomy and support.
>> A weighted student formula for budgeting that considers the unique needs of each student.
>> Ensuring that 90 percent of operations funding is controlled at the school level.
>> Expanded school-community partnerships.
>> Establishing a seven-member state education board appointed by the governor and confirmed by both houses of the Legislature.
>> Expand preschool initiatives to ensure that 75 percent of students are ready for kindergarten by 2008.
>> Equal funding for charter schools.
>> Giving the Department of Education autonomy similar to that of the University of Hawaii.
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