House Democrats have voted down a proposal to divide Hawai‘i’s centralized public school system into eight divisions that would be overseen by eight regional boards of education.
House members also rejected a plan to end union representation of public school principals.
The bill instead proposed that principals be hired through limited-term contracts. The measure also called for principals to receive raises of at least 20 percent as part of the new hiring arrangement.
House Republicans pulled both bills out of the House Education Committee for floor debates and voting, but both measures failed Friday when most Democrats opposed them.
Colleen Meyer, R-46th (La‘ie-Waiahole), said creating new and smaller boards of education makes sense because "the government closest to the people is most responsive to their concerns."
But House Education Chairman Ken Ito, D-48th (Kane‘ohe), said the new boards would be expensive, and would merely create another layer of bureaucracy.
He said the bill would require the new regional boards to operate under the existing state Board of Education and the Department of Education.
House members voted down that proposal 27-19, with five members absent.
Proponents of the bill to overhaul the way principals are employed argued it would be an important educational reform.
"Principals are the CEOs of the schools. They need flexibility, and need to be accountable," Meyer said.
But Ito said the bill unfairly makes "scapegoats" of principals for the failures of the public school system, and punishes principals by forcing them out of the union. Ito said principals want union representation.
The bill was rejected 30-14.
