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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 11:48 a.m., Friday, November 7, 2003

Budget 'setback’ dismays state education officials

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

State education officials this week expressed disappointment in "a first-round setback" in which most of the Board of Education’s supplemental budget request for fiscal year 2005 was rejected by state budget officials.

The board submitted a $51.2 million supplemental budget but the state Department of Budget and Finance is recommending approval of only $1.5 million.

Schools Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto, in a letter this week, said she and her staff have "serious concerns" about the Budget and Finance recommendations.

The biggest difference between the departments is over funding to help schools meet performance expectations of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

As part of the supplemental budget request, the board is seeking $23.8 million for programs and infrastructure related to No Child Left Behind, while Budget and Finance is recommending to Gov. Linda Lingle that no additional money be provided.

Hamamoto said her department "strongly urges full funding" of the board’s request. The request includes funds for parent involvement, standardized testing, "highly qualified personnel," staff development and information technology.

In addition, the DOE said Budget and Finance ignored the board’s request for nearly $1 million for infrastructure improvements, $1.5 million for the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program and $850,000 startup costs for a program to seek millions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements.

Georgina Kawamura, director of the Department of Budget and Finance, said the state doesn’t have enough money to accommodate such a large supplemental request — especially if all of the state’s 16 departments submitted equally large numbers.

"It is my responsibility to sift through all their requests and make recommendations that are reasonable within the amount of money we have to spend," Kawamura said. "We do it in our households every day."

She stressed that no final decision has been made on the funding requests.

"The governor makes the final decision," Kawamura said. "The governor decides what we submit."

The DOE still plans to submit the full request to the Legislature when it convenes next year, said Greg Knudsen, department spokesman.

Because state agencies have been told by the governor to hold expenses to a minimum, the board knew that such a huge request might be too much, Knudsen said.

"But we still hoped it would be taken into consideration and looked at seriously and in relation to what appears to be an improving economy," Knudsen said.

Without the money, the department will have to struggle along, he said.

"With no additional funding, we will do what we have always done," he said. "It will require more work, more delays, more bureaucratic procedures."

Meanwhile, the boards request to fund a $3.5 million A-Plus Program shortfall and $1.1 million for risk management received the full support of Budget and Finance.

Differences between the board’s request and the executive budget are usually considered during legislative deliberations on the final budget, the DOE said.