Lingle lobbies for seven school boards

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday criticized the House's school reform bill and called on senators to revive her proposal to let voters decide whether to replace Hawai'i's statewide public school system with seven locally elected school boards.

Before the Senate Education Committee, Lingle said House Bill 289 "purports to move decision-making closer to the schools by creating complex area school councils and assigning them various duties," but that council members would be appointed by the Board of Education rather than elected by the community.

"Ultimate control of all the schools would continue to be exactly where it is now, which is in the hands of a single, statewide Board of Education," Lingle said.

The House bill would create 15 "complex area school councils" that would prioritize construction and repair projects and make decisions about campuses in their respective "complex" of geographically grouped schools. Each seven-member council would be appointed by the BOE and be required to include at least one student, one parent and one teacher.

Lingle proposed gutting the bill and inserting the provisions in House Bill 1082, an administration measure that proposed a constitutional amendment to create at least seven elected local school boards. That measure stalled in the House and the Senate, with lawmakers doubting it would help improve student achievement.

A prominent supporter of the House proposal for complex area school councils is state Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto, who called it "a viable means to achieve local determination of many educational decisions facing the schools in each complex area as well as to enhance local educational accountability."

Most of those who submitted testimony opposed the bill or had concerns about the measure.

The Senate Education Committee will make a decision on the bill Monday.

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