Posted on: Monday, March 3, 2003

EDITORIAL
Education plan can test reform sincerity

A plan moving ahead in the Legislature would respond to a genuine desire for community input into school decision-making without going through the trauma of fundamentally changing our constitutional system of school governance.

Gov. Linda Lingle had proposed creating seven elected school districts boards around the state, replacing a system in which we have, today, just one statewide board.

That plan appears to be stalled.

House Democrats, meanwhile, are talking about a system of 15 "school complex" councils. A complex is traditionally a high school and the surrounding middle and elementary feeder schools.

The advantage of this plan is that it does not require a constitutional amendment, could be put in place quickly and would fit with ongoing efforts by Superintendent Pat Hamamoto to place more authority at the complex level.

Now, all of this is so much shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic if there isn't a true commitment to allow greater decision-making and autonomy on the local level.

If central bureaucrats, the state board and lawmakers continue to impose detailed authority on the individual complexes, this idea will make little more progress than the School/Community-Based Management effort.

In essence, this relatively simple change is an acid test of true determination to give communities a greater say in how their schools operate and teach. It would retain the advantages of a unified statewide system (and there are many) without imposing a one-size-fits-all regime on every decision, from repair and maintenance to curriculum philosophy.