HSTA leader says schools need more state money

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Education Writer

Roger Takabayashi, the president of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, is staying on message.

"Our teachers are doing well and our students are improving," Roger Takabayashi said.

"Our teachers are doing well and our students are improving," said Takabayashi, who took over as union president in July and is on leave from Dole Middle School.

Disappointing student test scores are cause for concern, he said, but only tell part of the story. The state, he said, has not adequately financed public education and real change will not likely happen until teachers are better paid and have smaller class sizes.

The HSTA will push for better pay and health insurance and incentives for national board certification during the next legislative session.

In a chat with The Advertiser, Takabayashi talked about some of the issues facing teachers and public schools in the coming months, as Gov. Linda Lingle has vowed to make education reform her priority with the Legislature. An edited transcript appears below.

Q. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing public-school teachers in Hawai'i today?

A. Working with a lack of funding.

Teachers are still going into their own pockets to pay for supplies. A teacher put up her charge card to ensure that a student could go to an international debate competition, then they did fund-raising after the fact.

That's the kind of stuff that the public doesn't see.

Q. How do you get around that?

A. Well, I think public education should be a top priority for the Legislature. It's in the state Constitution. We should fund education first.

Q. The latest round of test scores found that students are having real trouble keeping up with state math and reading standards. How can teachers help close this gap?

A. Test scores are just a snapshot in time. I think that with more resources we could work around that.

A lot of our kids need supplemental services; we don't have the resources for that. We need smaller classes in certain areas; we don't have the funding for that.

And the high turnover of teachers is a problem.

Q. Should state performance standards be changed?

A. Even as much as they are made for Hawai'i's children, it doesn't apply. There are many questions in there that I looked at and said, 'Some of the kids don't know that?'

In reference to one question, they talked about 'opihi. They're limpets. Hawaiians like to gather them down by the water. How come these kids did not know 'opihi? These are Hawaiians, locally raised kids, and some of them didn't know what 'opihi was. Samoan kids, they didn't know. Filipino kids, they didn't know.

To base everything on a test is really a disservice to our teachers and our students.

Q. So the tests should be changed?

A. I don't think so much weight should be placed on them, that's all.

Q. You've been asked to serve on Gov. Lingle's new education reform committee. Do you agree with the governor that we should have locally elected school boards and should give principals greater authority over spending and curriculum?

A. A dollar, no matter how much you break it up, is still going to be a dollar. You might have this weighted student formula or you might have these seven local boards or whatever, but it's the money that makes the difference.

You're going to have more people controlling the same amount of money, and they are going to take some of the pot for their operation. The bottom line is funding.

Q. How are teachers going to fit into this debate? And are you already starting a little behind, since the governor seems to have taken the initiative?

A. I would say they (teachers) are at a disadvantage because the train is moving so fast.

They haven't had time to get the information from the committee. I just got the information the other day, and I'm on the committee.

Q. So how do you get on equal footing?

A. When the time comes, teachers will come to testify.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.