Education reforms facing budget cutbacks
By Jennifer Hiller and Alice Keesing
Advertiser Education Writers
Hawai'i educators remain hopeful that the economic downturn will be too short-lived to change the emphasis on improving education, but most say tough decisions lie ahead.
The governor will call the Legislature into special session next month to consider measures to boost business, protect laid-off workers and bring tourists back to Hawai'i.
The economic crisis comes as public schools are engaged in sweeping — and costly — reforms. Educators are racing to meet a federal court deadline to improve special-education services and are working on new standards to boost student performance. At the University of Hawai'i system, the 10 campuses are just coming out of a long downturn in state financial support, enrollment and campus maintenance.
While support for education initiatives hasn't evaporated, there seems to be an acknowledgement by legislators and education officials that the state must focus on shoring up an economy hard hit by last week's East Coast terror attacks.
"We know that the two community priorities are education and the economy, and education has generally come out first," said Joan Husted, executive director of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association. "Well, clearly this is going to flip-flop the two. And I think we're going to see a greater emphasis on job security, but education is going to continue to stay in the top-tier issues, and I'm sure the community is going to continue to say, 'Don't touch it if you don't have to.'"
Schools chief Paul LeMahieu acknowledged budget cuts will likely dampen efforts to improve public schools. The Department of Education is investigating how it can reallocate money internally, he said, but some initiatives may still be vulnerable.
That includes efforts to prepare and train a new generation of school principals who are needed to curtail a looming administrative shortage, continuing efforts to develop the standards and accountability system aimed at improving student performance, and professional development to improve teaching methods.
"The golden rule of education in hard times is that you cut as far away from the classroom as possible," Le-
Mahieu said. "But the reality is, as we survey the data that we have, is that the vast majority of our resources go down into the schools at this point already, so it could be impossible to avoid scratching them up completely."
The Board of Education last night was set to approve a supplemental budget request of $41 million for the public schools. The budget was crafted before the attacks of Sept. 11, and budget chairwoman Karen Knudsen said she and others are aware that times have changed.
"We can't say we don't need this money; we do need the money, but we may have to go back and look at this again," she said.
Educators may have to respond in other ways as well, Knudsen said.
"Any time there is trauma or major social upheaval, we feel the impact in the schools," she said. "If parents are going through really tough times, we have to be prepared for that."
State Sen. Brian Taniguchi, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said it is too early to tell exactly what the financial impact will be for Hawai'i — other than big.
"We're trying to get something solid to base our decision on," said Taniguchi, D-11th (McCully, Mo'ili'ili, Manoa). "Whether it's going to erode education spending, I can't tell you that. I think there's a still a strong sense that as much as possible we don't want to affect education in any way; we want to improve education. That may have to be tempered somewhat."
UH President Evan Dobelle has offered free university tuition to anyone who gets laid off or loses their small business because of a financial downturn. Children of laid-off workers would also be eligible for the tuition waiver as early as the spring semester.
"I'm proceeding in a very positive way," Dobelle said. "We have an opportunity to step up in times of crisis."
University enrollments typically rise when economies turn sour. Dobelle said that if UH has a significant increase in its student population and waives tuition costs, it would hope to be "held harmless" when state legislators look to cut the budget.
The governor has talked about fast-tracking construction plans to maintain jobs, and Dobelle plans to submit a plan to the Legislature during the October session that would outline plans for building the West O'ahu campus at a cost of around $200 million, building a new medical school for about $150 million and improving the Manoa campus through maintenance and building dorms.
LeMahieu also suggested that Hawai'i's aging schools, which are badly in need of repairs and maintenance, could benefit from the capital improvement spending.
But Alex Malahoff, president of the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly, doesn't think the education community should bank on such new programs. "I don't think we'll be able to count on the Legislature," Malahoff said. "The money just isn't there. We're just knuckling down. We just have to be firm and more productive than ever."
Instead of depending on the state, Malahoff, who himself oversees millions in research money each year, said the university will have to focus on research grants. There may also be a shift in national priorities for funding defense-related research, he said.
However, research grants don't cover classroom and teaching costs, Malahoff said, so the effect they can have is limited.
Rep. Nestor Garcia, vice chairman of the House Higher Education Board, does not expect a sea change in the attitude toward education at the Legislature.
"I don't think our attention was shifted entirely away from education as a result of the crisis," said Garcia, D-37th (Waipahu, Crestview ). "As legislators we have more than a responsibility to the crisis of the day."
Education will still be a "foundation stone" for the state's economy, said Sen. Norman Sakamoto, who heads the Senate Education Committee.
"I think it would be shortsighted to say, don't fund schools, fund the economy," said Sakamoto, D-16th (Moanalua, Salt Lake). "It would be certainly shortsighted for Hawai'i, particularly when we're trying to transition to a more diversified economy."
Reach Alice Keesing at akeesing@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8027. Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
