Posted on: Sunday, April 15, 2001

Teacher strike: Time is getting very short

That sense of urgency over the need to settle the statewide education strike took on a powerful new dimension last week with a warning from Federal Judge David Ezra.

Settle the strike soon, Ezra told the teachers, or he might step in and — in effect — settle it for them.

And why does a federal judge have any say-so over a local school strike? It's because Ezra is overseeing a state agreement to improve education conditions for special-needs students. This case, the Felix consent agreement, obligates the state to reach certain levels of service to special-education students by December.

If the strike looks as if it is preventing the state from meeting its obligation, Ezra said, he may well step in.

That is absolutely the last thing either side in this dispute should want. While it is unlikely that Ezra would attempt to take over the entire public school system, any intervention would be a painful step backward.

It would, in effect, wipe out the collective bargaining process and make someone, perhaps both sides, very unhappy. It is far, far better for the state and the teachers to work out their difficulties on their own.

Ezra's rather narrow mandate is to see that the state lives up to its agreement on special-education students. The mandate of the teachers and the administration is much broader: To improve the entire public education system in Hawai'i.

To meet that obligation, it is crucial that they settle the strike before someone else steps in. Time is getting short.