Legislators target school bureaucracy

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

Some legislators plan to offer up bills in January that could potentially restructure the Department of Education — and the massive state bureaucracy they say is standing in its way.

Although the ideas are far from concrete, at least one bill will start circulating this week that would completely revamp the department by giving it more authority over its money and employees and attempting to reduce the avalanche of paperwork that buries school officials.

The bills come at a critical time for education and during a tumultuous year. After a statewide teachers strike, the derailment of new Ha-

wai'i-based standardized test, a legislative investigation into special education spending and last month's resignation of the superintendent, some state officials have said it's time to look at public education and consider what isn't working.

"I can't say that there's been one trigger," said Rep. Brian Schatz, a member of the House Committee on Education. "I think there's been momentum building for years."

Schatz, D-24th (Makiki, Tantalus), and Rep. Ken Ito, chairman of the House Committee on Education, are working on bills that would consider, among other things:

• Letting the DOE manage its money independent from the state's Department of Accounting and General Services.

• Giving Honolulu and the other counties the authority to conduct repair and maintenance at schools.

• Giving clusters of school complexes autonomy to manage their own repair and maintenance money.

• Letting the DOE manage its own personnel and establish new positions, independent from the state's Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and Department of Human Resources Development.

The DOE currently goes through too many other bureaucracies to get anything accomplished, Schatz said.

Another proposal would give the DOE a designated portion of the state's general excise tax every year so it would not have to continually lobby the Legislature and the governor for money.

"Education shouldn't be a political football every year," Schatz said. "I would assume there would be a lot of resistance. There are a lot of people who are comfortable in this system. But the biggest problem this state faces is education."

Sen. Norman Sakamoto, D-16th (Moanalua, Salt Lake, Aliamanu, Foster Village), chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said he does not have any bills he plans to release in the next few weeks, but is interested in looking at who can be held responsible at the DOE and at other state agencies the public schools work with.

"Accountability is something we're going to address," Sakamoto said. "That brings into question the whole educational system from the Board of Education on down. Obviously we're not going to change the ship in a day.

"The broader issue is who is responsible, whether it's for repair and maintenance or other issues. Right now, everyone is pointing fingers at each other. People blame DAGS, the people at DAGS blame the DOE. Teachers blame principals. The administration and the board blame each other or the governor."

Ito, D-48th (Kane'ohe), said the changes could take years to make. "There might be some constitutional changes. We'll be looking at some of the different governance models. We want to make sure the money is getting to the kids. It has to be systemwide; it has to address the whole DOE system."

Karen Knudsen, a member of the Board of Education, sounded a note of caution, though.

She said it is important for the Legislature to look to the board and the DOE for collaboration, and to avoid making rash changes simply because 2002 is an election year.

After the Omnibus Education Act of 1994, the state dismantled the district offices and took positions away from the schools in an attempt to flatten bureaucracy, but Knudsen said it gave principals an unmanageable workload.

"Within the department, folks still shake their heads," Knudsen said. "Has that had any impact on the schools? With all of the mandates and changes and laws, where has there been any impact on students in the classroom?"

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.