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Gathering Place
 S. Haunani Apoliona |
Hawaiian community
needs education reformAt its April 1 meeting, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees voted to support education reform. Why do OHA trustees support increasing local control in schools? Because the current system has not worked for Hawaiians for more than 20 years. We need change and we need it now.
A 2003 PASE report (Policy Analysis & System Evaluation) by Kamehameha Schools shows Hawaiian students have the lowest test scores and the lowest graduation rates of all students in the public school system. They have the highest rates every year for students held back a grade. They are overrepresented, by more than 50 percent, among students needing special education. The schools they attend are more likely than other schools to employ teachers with less experience and tenure, while Hawaiian children make up 26 percent of the public school population. The dropout rate between freshman and senior year at one high school in a predominantly Hawaiian community is nearly 50 percent.
As early as 1983, the Native Hawaiian Educational Assessment Project reported that Hawaiian children were performing dismally in the public school system. But in the mid-1800s, the indigenous people of Hawaii had a literacy rate of 97 percent, one of the highest in the world!
All of this tells us that something about our public education system needs to change. The changes need to be of essence, systemic changes, not just Band-Aid approaches to change. The OHA board's decision calls for educational reform increasing local control in schools. Local control is not just about providing teachers and principals with greater opportunities to react to situations that occur in the schools. More important, it is about accountability -- something that has been lacking in our public school system.
Such statistics cannot be ignored. OHA trustees have a statutory obligation to work to better the conditions of Hawaiians. Education is necessary to improve the social and economic conditions of Hawaiians. In a state where Hawaiians score at the bottom in public education and where predominantly Hawaiian communities have the highest teacher turnover rates, something must be done.
According to a recent poll, the general public believes that schools need smaller class sizes and more textbooks, computers and building maintenance. School governance did not appear to be of concern to the typical parent. However, it is governance itself that can bring more textbooks and smaller class sizes to schools. It is a redirecting of substantial funding to schools, and the delegation of authority to school principals about how to spend that money, that will allow principals to purchase more textbooks, hire more teachers, reduce class sizes, buy more computers and take care of building repairs and maintenance.
The mandate is clear. We want our children to be able to read and write, to complete secondary education, to seek post-secondary education by graduating from college or a vocational program if that is their choice, and to obtain and retain jobs with salaries that substantially increase Hawaiian families' income levels.
OHA trustees urge immediate, significant transformation of the educational system. We encourage Hawaiians and the larger community to jump into the discussion and help bring about systemic change. It is a daunting task requiring much dialogue, objective analysis, cooperation and timely action. We also must hear from our academic community, which trains most of our public school teachers. We need to do this not just for the betterment of Hawaiians, but for the betterment of all of Hawaii, Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike. As a community, we deserve nothing less.
S. Haunani Apoliona, M.S.W., is chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.