EDITORIAL
Teacher union's clout should help schools

A decision by the state's unionized teachers to become more savvy in the way they use their political clout could be good news for education in Hawai'i, if that clout is used wisely.

Advertiser Capitol Bureau writer Lynda Arakawa reports that, following last year's statewide teacher strike, the Hawai'i State Teachers Association is going to far more choosy about endorsements in this year's races.

The union traditionally has almost always gone with Democrats, on the theory that they were more likely to fund education and teacher salaries.

But the lessons of the strike, union officials say, is that this is no longer necessarily the case.

The key to whether this new attitude works for education overall and not just teacher interests depends on how the new selectivity is applied. If it simply means opening up a "bidding war" among the various candidates and parties to see who can promise the most to the teachers, then it's no real improvement.

But if the process drives the candidates to get beyond generalities about "supporting education" into specifics that hold genuine promise of improving our education system, it could be a winner

Maui school teacher Ray Hart had it right in Arakawa's article, when he said it will take more than vague promises of support for education to win the union this year. "I think they're going to have to be (specific about their positions) almost issue by issue, rather than just a blanket "I'm behind you,'" he said.

This should mean putting the candidates to the test on such issues as classroom performance standards, policies on testing and promotion and the myriad of other issues that come under the general umbrella of school "reform."

Wages and benefits will always be important, of course. But if the HSTA truly gets beyond these bread-and-butter issues to put its considerable political clout into the larger issue of educational excellence, it will accomplish a great deal for our public schools.