The three major gubernatorial candidates are airing their views about abolishing Hawaii's teacher furloughs following a weeklong sit-in at Gov. Linda Lingle's office by a group of parents and college students.

The members of an informal group called Save Our Schools called on the two Democrats, former U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie and Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, and Republican Lt. Gov. James “;Duke”; Aiona to explain how they would restore the state's 180-day school year. The group began its sit-in April 7 to protest the nation's shortest school year and ended it late Wednesday.

The candidates responded with few specifics on how they would eliminate furloughs, but all three said working together is key.

“;The solution to Furlough Fridays is not simple, but the pathway to a solution is,”; Abercrombie said in a statement sent Wednesday evening. “;All parties must work together—in the same room, face-to-face—immediately and continuously until they agree on a way to put students back in school.”;

Hannemann's campaign manager, Dean Okimoto, said the mayor would not have handled the sit-in parents' concerns the way Lingle did.

If a governor “;truly supports education, that not only has to be the major part of the budget, but you also have to be able to release the money and then roll up the sleeves and physically show up to talk to the other parties at the table,”; Okimoto said.

Aiona, meanwhile, has generally hewed to Lingle's positions. For example, he and Lingle support tying an end to furloughs to legislative approval of a proposal to give governors the authority to appoint the state superintendent of schools.

“;Everyone should be immediately focused on a reasonable, achievable solution to return our children to the classroom, and we must work together to get it done,”; the lieutenant governor said yesterday in a statement that did not address the sit-in.

The furloughs were implemented last fall and by next month will have reduced Hawaii's instructional calendar to 163 days, the shortest in the nation. Another 17 furlough days are planned for next school year.

None of the three candidates said much publicly about the sit-in while it was occurring. An Abercrombie aide did attempt to pass fruit to the parents last week but was turned away by a state sheriff's deputy.