Gov. Linda Lingle offered what she called a new proposal to reduce furloughs days that cut instruction time for public school students with the insistence that teachers be willing to give up their planning days.

Lingle also said she would not agree to any settlement that did not cover the seven remaining furlough days this year and all 17 next year.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association yesterday said it had not yet seen the proposal and declined comment.

Board of Education Chairman Garrett Toguchi said the board was awaiting answers from the governor's office on some questions. Once those concerns are resolved, the employer group—made up of the board, the Department of Education, the state human resources director and the governor's office representative—can present the proposal to the union.

“;The most we can say is that the board has not yet received a reply or a revised proposal from the governor's office,”; Toguchi said in a statement. “;We will not engage in a public negotiation, which could jeopardize the integrity of the negotiation process and further delay restoration of instructional time for students.”;

  Lingle announces furlough plan

 

Lingle offers to buy back 12 additional furlough days.

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  Lingle's furlough plan gives back to students

 

Governor Lingle's revised proposal would get students back in class on 24 of the 27 furlough days.

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Lingle's proposal is largely the same as her previous offer to the union in November.

It would take $50 million from the state's rainy day fund to restore 12 furlough days, five this school year and seven next year.

The remaining days, two this year and 10 next year, would be made up by converting teacher planning days to classroom time.

“;I want to have a recognition on the part of teachers and the union that we are in a financial crisis—that it's not business as usual,”; Lingle said. “;Even though you usually have 10 planning days next year, you should be willing to give up those planning days.

“;You simply can't make a case that planning to teach is more important than actually teaching.”;

A plan agreed to last week by the school board, the Department of Education and the union proposed to spend $35 million from the rainy day fund to make up the seven furlough days remaining this year, with a commitment from all sides to adjust next year's academic calendar to reduce next year's furloughs.

The union criticized Lingle for not working collaboratively with the other groups.

“;Unlike the tentative agreement that we reached with the DOE and BOE, we were not invited to collaborate on the plan that we understand the governor has sent to the news media,”; HSTA President Wil Okabe said in a news release. “;As always, we remain open and available to discuss ways to end the furloughs.”;

He said the union would continue talks with the department and school board next week.

Lingle said she would not agree to any plan that did not cover all the furlough days, accusing the other sides of “;foot-dragging”; and hoping that she will change her mind.

“;I'm not going to do that,”; she said. “;We need certainty for parents and for students going forward.”;

Lawmakers were disappointed by the impasse.

“;I don't know if there's any agreement with the governor or with the teachers union at this point,”; said House Speaker Calvin Say. “;So there is no plan of action at this time to address it.”;

Sen. Brian Taniguchi, the Judiciary Committee chairman who helped persuade Lingle to make her November offer, said he had hoped for resolution by now.

“;I would have hoped she would have compromised so that we could at least deal with this semester,”; Taniguchi said.

“;It's unfortunate that we can't work something out,”; he added. “;But the parties have their interests, and I think the governor's beliefs are very strong and she's not compromising.”;