Legislators to release Felix report draft today

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

A legislative committee investigating how public money was spent in the state's special education system will release its draft report today asking the attorney general's office to consider legal action.

The report does not give any specific legal directives, but does point out governing, fiscal-reporting and money-management problems in the Department of Education, accuses the department of a lack of candor with the Legislature and accuses the federal court of interfering with the investigation, committee members said yesterday.

"One of the themes of the report is that there were abuses at virtually every level of the consent decree," said Rep. Scott Saiki, D-20th (Kapahulu, Mo'ili'ili), a committee co-chairman.

Hawai'i's special education system has been under federal court oversight since it signed the Felix consent decree in 1994, agreeing to improve services as required by law. The state must meet certain deadlines by March, or face a court takeover of the system.

Alarmed by the millions of dollars being spent on special education, the Legislature this year launched an investigation into the effort to comply.

Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Barbers Point, Makaha), committee co-chairwoman, said legislators want more answers about whether the federal court monitor hired his own company to provide some Felix-related work, including a contract with Hilo-based company Na Laukoa and a contract with Columbus Educational Corp., which was hired to attract teachers to Hawai'i with packages of up $112,000.

Hanabusa also said they plan to mount a legal challenge to U.S. District Judge David Ezra's decision to quash one of their subpoenas. The committee wants to questions Judith Schrag, who used to work with the court monitor and recommended the Columbus Educational Corp.

The report will be posted this afternoon at the Legislatures' Felix consent decree Web site.