Editorial
To comply with Felix, information is power
There's no question that the ongoing legislative inquiry into the state's handling of special education under the so-called Felix consent decree has been a distraction.
But that is no reason why the probe by lawmakers should be put completely on ice while the state struggles to meet a Nov. 1 deadline to come into compliance with the level of services it agreed to back in 1994.
If the state cannot get substantially into compliance, the federal court may put Hawai'i's special education program into receivership.
Yes, the state — particularly the departments of Health and Education — has a daunting task ahead as they try to lift services to special needs children to a level that will meet federal law and satisfy the federal court. And lawmakers should be sensitive to those pressures as they seek answers to their questions about the programs.
If there are reports or information that could wait until after the November deadline, lawmakers should show patience. There is a huge amount of paperwork that can be generated. Surely, lawmakers don't want the limited resources and time of the health and education departments diverted from the core task of reaching compliance.
But much of what the Legislature is after is, in fact, precisely what the state will need to demonstrate compliance. That is, how is the money being spent and what are the results associated with that money?
It became clear in their hearing this week that officials have little coordinated, integrated, comprehensive information on how and where the money is being spent.
In short, lawmakers may have already made the key discovery of their investigation into the special education program: That the management information system needed to make it work is — at this late date — still missing. Such a system cannot be built overnight, surely. And the task of building it should not fall solely on the shoulders of already-overburdened teachers.
But it must be done. This kind of information-driven accountability is crucial to demonstrating compliance.
