A laudable effort is being made in the Legislature to force Hawaii's education system to increase the number of school days in the year, but legal questions threaten its desired effect. The proposal would set the framework for labor agreements that dictate Hawaii's school year, now the skimpiest in the country because of Furlough Fridays.

One Senate committee has approved a bill that would require public school students to spend at least 190 days and 36 hours a week in the classroom in a school year. Without the furloughs, Hawaii's school year would be 180 days for students and up to 190 days, including preparation days, for teachers, according to terms of a state contract with the Hawaii State Teachers Association and other unions. With furloughs, the instructional days total a nationally low 163 instructional days, compared with the common length of 180 days.

The teachers union warned legislators that it cannot “;impinge on the constitutional rights of public employees”; in the negotiation of wages, hours and other job conditions. Indeed, state Attorney General Mark Bennett noted that the original bill, which was to take effect July 1, would conflict with labor contracts that run through the 2010-2011 school year. The committee agreed to change the bill's startup school year to 2011-2012.

Even without the furloughs, public high school students in Hawaii received 1,285 instructional minutes per week, about 4 hours and 17 minutes a day, fifth lowest in the country and nearly an hour shorter than the national average, according to the state Department of Education. Hawaii's 771 instructional hours a year, without the furloughs, were far below the national average of 996 hours.

The bill, if enacted, would effectively prevent the use of furloughs to shorten the class time for students—but could eliminate teachers' planning days without adding to the 190 instructional school days, which would be more than any other state.

Instead, a reworked, more-effective bill would set a reasonable minimum of instructional days, such as 180, the most common across the country and the number that was specified prior to the furloughs.

The teachers union agrees that legislators have the “;broad discretion in setting the parameters for collective bargaining.”; Setting a reasonable mandatory minimum for instruction keeps the focus where it should be—on student learning—and draws parameters with room for negotiation that will invite fewer legal obstacles.