Posted on: Wednesday, June 13, 2001
Legislature poised to study Felix expenses
By Alice Keesing
Advertiser Education Writer
The Legislature will launch its investigation next week into the millions of dollars being spent on the Felix consent decree.
The joint Senate-House investigative committee was authorized this session in the wake of growing concerns about the amount of money being funneled into special education and whether it is reaching the children for whom it is intended.
Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, who will co-chair the committee, said it will focus on where the money is going "so that we can lay to rest, once and for all, one way or the other, the allegations and the innuendos surrounding Felix ... so we can say to the people, your money is not being wasted."
The committee's first meeting on Tuesday will adopt rules for the conduct of the investigation and discuss procedural matters such as issuing subpoenas for witnesses.
Driving the investigation is a January report by the state auditor. While the report's authors found improvement in special education services, they also were highly critical of several areas, including inconsistent cost reporting, faulty identification of children into special-education and a lack of independent oversight.
Hawai'i's special education system has been under federal court oversight since a 1993 class-action lawsuit that accused the state of not adequately educating children with mental disabilities. The state signed the consent decree in 1994, agreeing to improve services.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra already has found the state in contempt of court for missing one deadline, and plaintiff attorneys in the case now are asking the court to appoint a receiver to take over the system to complete the job.
Hawai'i's spending on special education has increased about 500 percent since 1992. The price tag for the next two years is more than $700 million.
"You want to be sure that it's going to the children that we're supposed to be servicing," said Hanabusa, D-21st (Kalaeloa, Makaha). "That's all we're saying, and if this is what it costs to do it, then fine."
Court monitor Ivor Groves, who oversees the state's progress in the consent decree, said the money that has been spent on Felix has improved special education and education overall.
"The state has built a capacity to provide services that didn't exist," he said. "It has tried to catch up, and the costs are largely driven by trying to overcome 20 years of neglect in five years."
Groves said the Legislature is "free to investigate whatever they want to investigate." However, he has expressed his concern to the federal court that the investigation could hinder progress in the departments of education and health.
"My concern is that people stay focused on getting the job done, and anything that disrupts that, to me, is potentially not cost-effective, not constructive in terms of getting the work done," he said.
Ezra and legislators already have exchanged words through the media over Felix financing, with Ezra warning he would step in if legislators did not provide the money the departments said they needed to get the job done.
Hanabusa said the committee is not intended to be disruptive.
"We're not telling them how to run their programs. We're just simply saying give us answers," she said.
Hanabusa and Rep. Scott Saiki will chair the committee. Members are Rep. Ken Ito, Rep. Bertha Kawakami, Rep. Blake Oshiro, Rep. Bertha Leong, Rep. David Pendleton, Sen. Jan Yagi Buen, Sen. Russell Kokubun, Sen. David Matsuura, Sen. Norman Sakamoto and Sen. Sam Slom.
