Reform move to create local school boards falters

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

A move to abolish the state Board of Education and replace it with locally elected school boards ran into trouble at the Legislature yesterday, with the Senate's lead negotiator saying he now wants to study the issue for a year.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Norman Sakamoto said House and Senate versions of education reform are too far apart and he is abandoning the push for wholesale restructuring of the school board.

House and Senate members held their first conference committee meeting yesterday to try to reconcile differences over Senate Bill 2102, which would put a constitutional amendment before voters to see if they want to abolish the school board in its current form.

Tomorrow is the deadline for lawmakers to reach agreement of bills that call for constitutional amendments.

Supporters of locally elected school boards say such bodies would bring decision-making closer to communities and would foster more accountability in the system.

But the proposals have been met with skepticism from Superintendent Pat Hamamoto and teachers, who said it is not clear how the changes would improve student achievement. They also have found that the bills lack important details.

Sakamoto, D-16th (Moanalua, Salt Lake), said he wants to create a task force to study the issue and make recommendations before the 2003 Legislature. He said that in the meantime, the Legislature could set up advisory councils to oversee school complexes and that current Board of Education members could be assigned more responsibility for overseeing schools in the areas they were elected from. It was not clear what that would mean for BOE members who were elected as at-large candidates.

"I don't have a good feeling that ... we can march forward in giant steps today," he said. "I think if we can do some of the complex advisory boards and have the current board pay more attention locally, those are steps in the right direction.

But House Education Chairman Ken Ito, D-48th (Kane'ohe), said he believes that the House and Senate can reach a resolution on a constitutional amendment.

"Let's do it already," Ito said. "There's so many studies on the books upstairs. ...Personally, myself, I think we should put it on the ballot and let the people decide."

The House wants 15 elected school boards, with the governor appointing the superintendent of education. The Senate wants seven elected regional boards, with one member from each board serving on a statewide school board. Under the Senate's version, the statewide board would select the superintendent.

Senate and House conferees will meet again today.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.