By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

The Legislature is getting closer to passing a major education reform bill. And people at the Department of Education are getting closer to throwing their hands up in the air.

They're in the middle of trying to comply with the Felix consent decree, rolling out a Hawai'i-based standards test and trying to deal with the latest federal education bill and its numerous hard-to-meet mandates. They're coping with budget cuts. There's a new superintendent doing her own part to change the bureaucracy.

So even though most of them won't say it publicly, folks at the DOE contend they simply don't have time for this right now.

That's too bad for them. It's an election year, and legislators want to pass something.

The House is moving education reform legislation that would radically change the structure of the DOE.

The plan includes dismantling the Board of Education and replacing it with 15 local school boards that would select their own superintendents for their "complex areas" comprising high schools and feeder schools.

Each board would be made up of four elected members and three members appointed by the state superintendent. The state superintendent, appointed by the governor, would oversee the DOE and the state librarian.

HSTA not convinced

The Hawai'i State Teachers Association isn't buying it.

"It doesn't prove that it makes a difference when you get to the classroom," HSTA president Karen Ginoza said.

Ginoza may be alone in her protest, though.

The education reform bill is a bipartisan effort.

If there's one thing that nearly everyone at the Legislature seems to agree on, it's that the education system isn't working. Because the board is at the top of that system, it's going to be the first to get the ax.

Republicans have long favored the idea of replacing the statewide board with locally elected boards, saying decision-making belongs closer to schools, parents and the community.

The party released the results of a "People's Pulse" poll this week that show 80 percent of those surveyed prefer a board elected at the county or the school district level.

Democratic leaders say the changes would make the DOE more accountable, with clearer lines of authority.

Board of Education members say they need to educate the public about the disadvantages of such change.

They say the statewide board makes it possible to make big and consistent changes, such as complying with the Felix consent decree or implementing a new system of standards and accountability.

They say that breaking up the system into small boards would create an atmosphere of competition for resources; that it would cost too much to run all of those other boards.

The Board of Education members had better stop talking and start campaigning. So far, education reform is sailing through the Legislature.

Have education questions that need answers? Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.