ISLAND VOICES
Panel on education reform stacked
By Beatrice DeRego
Beatrice DeRego, a public school teacher, lives in Kane'ohe.
As a teacher dedicated to educational reform, I am following the efforts of the governor's commission on education with interest. Since the commission was handpicked by Gov. Linda Lingle, a proponent of school decentralization, I was not surprised with the information it produced.
The belief that schools will not improve without providing more authority at the local level is not only valid, but obvious to educators faced with the tedium of bureaucratic mandates. This does not necessarily imply that the only option is multiple school boards.
Some of the correlations made by commission members have to be considered with caution. While it is true Hawai'i's students regularly perform lower than other states' students on standardized tests, there are a vast number of factors that contribute to the variance, including resources provided schools, attraction of qualified teachers by providing a professional compensation package and lack of community involvement.
Valid educational research also requires multiple measures of student performance to get a clear picture of achievement. I firmly believe none of the parents in my school would want the future of their children decided on the outcome of a standardized test.
Some reforms do have merit. For example, the weighted per-pupil spending formula, which provides resources to schools most in need, is a step toward balancing years of unfair allocations. However, a review of the commission's makeup indicates a future push toward charter schools and a voucher program — loosely guised as "parental choice."
As a citizen of Hawai'i and a taxpayer, I am concerned about the composition of the commission and whether any tax dollars are being used to fund its effort. The Republican makeup of the group is evident, as is a pro-business configuration. I also found it alarming that there are so few teacher representatives, since they are closest to the needs of the students, and that there is not one student representative.
I hope Gov. Lingle will be more forthcoming in providing complete information on the commission's members and the qualifications that lead them to hold a position integral to the future of Hawai'i's children.
