Poll shows support strong for Democrats' school plan

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Education Writer

Fifty-four percent of those interviewed in a new poll believe a single state school board and strengthened school councils made up of principals, teachers, parents, students and community representatives would improve the quality of public schools.

The Honolulu Advertiser Hawai'i Poll found that 54 percent of the public believes schools — and students, such as these in Lori Kwee's second-grade class at Ala Wai Elementary — would improve under the Democrats' school-reform plan. By comparison, 41 percent said the plan favored by Gov. Linda Lingle would improve schools. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

While Democrats have talked about the councils since late last year, critical details are still under review, and lawmakers have not been nearly as coordinated in selling their message to the public as Gov. Linda Lingle has with her campaign for local school boards.

Yet The Honolulu Advertiser Hawai'i Poll found that a majority believe the councils would improve schools, while 15 percent did not believe they would help and 31 percent did not know enough to have an opinion.

By comparison, 41 percent said breaking up the state Department of Education into seven local school districts with elected school boards would improve schools. Eighteen percent said local boards would not improve schools, and 41 percent did not know enough to decide.

The poll found that most people who have made up their minds on school governance believe that the new councils or local school boards would help, but a large segment wants more information, a signal to Democrats and Lingle that they still have work to do to claim a mandate.

The statewide survey of 605 Hawai'i residents was conducted March 24 to 27 by Ward Research Inc. of Honolulu. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.

"The more people have learned about the specifics, the more they have come to accept our proposals," said state House Majority Leader Scott Saiki, D-22nd (McCully, Pawa'a).

Lingle said the poll failed to ask whether people want the opportunity to vote on local school boards, a constitutional amendment that would require a public vote. The governor released a statewide poll on March 27, paid for by her education advisory committee, that found that 74 percent want the right to vote on the issue.

"The most important issue, of course, is what we've said from the beginning, which is, 'Just let the public decide this issue,' " Lingle said.

The state House has voted twice this session against local school boards and a key Senate leader said last week that he would not hear the governor's bill. With the session now building to a conclusion, House and Senate lawmakers are meeting in conference on the Democrats' reform package, which includes the new councils and a new student spending formula that bases funding on student need instead of school enrollment.

Lingle described Democrats as "obstructionist," but has indicated over the past few days that she is willing to compromise. Both sides favor the new formula, for example, but Lingle has said that principals should get 90 percent control over school spending decisions, while Democrats have proposed 75 percent, but have not locked in a figure.

Democrats also are close to an agreement on power-sharing for the new councils — a major concern at the principals' union — and will likely give principals the right to appeal council decisions. Principals could appeal to the complex-area superintendent, the state schools superintendent and, finally, to the state Board of Education.

Democrats have enough votes to pass their reform package without Republican support, and enough to override any Lingle veto, but Saiki said Democrats are open to talks with the Lingle administration. The Republican governor's approval ratings are high, and she has shown the ability to use the spotlight of her office to make education reform — and local school boards — a defining issue of the session.

The Hawai'i Poll found that people strongly believe that providing enough textbooks for every student and lowering class sizes in the early grades would significantly improve schools, issues Democrats have begun to address by adding money for those initiatives in their reform package.

"This is exactly what we're focusing on," Saiki said. "We want to work with the governor on practical means to improve student achievement."

The deeper message from the poll, as leading Democrats and many in the business community have long argued, may be that school governance is not the priority. When asked to rank several ideas, people gave much lower marks to local school boards and giving principals more control over spending than to practical things such as textbooks, class size and school repair and maintenance.

In a newsletter to members on Monday, Jim Tollefson, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i, wrote that parents recognize that smaller classes, updated textbooks, adequate supplies, functioning facilities and a clean and safe environment have a direct effect on student success.

"This is the big stuff," Tollefson wrote. "And it will make an immediate difference for our public-school students."

The Hawai'i Poll found that support for local school boards is much stronger on the Neighbor Islands than on O'ahu, a point Lingle and her supporters have often made to show the limits of a single board in Honolulu. People who have lived in Hawai'i for more than a decade, but who were not born and raised here, were also much more likely to favor local boards, probably because of their experience on the Mainland.

Janet Yamamoto, a massage therapist and seamstress in Puna, on the Big Island, said schools should focus on what works best locally, not on dictates from a state board or the state and federal governments. She said she supports local control, but needs more information before deciding whether local school boards or school councils would help.

"Things that work in Puna may not work in Hilo," Yamamoto said. "It's just different, and it has to be treated differently."

Marian Charlton-Oshita, who lives in Kona, said she wants to preserve a central DOE and establish local school boards. "I think they can do both," she said. "It gets them closer to the schools."

Despite the popularity of state schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto and her drive for change from within the DOE, the public impression that the statewide school system is too large, too inefficient and, as one parent said, "just not very good," remains the fuel behind reform.

Several people interviewed said the question now is not whether the DOE should change, but when, and by how much.

John Jordan, who works in communications in the Air Force and lives on Hickam Air Force Base, had a child in public school on the Mainland. But after doing research on Hawai'i as he was getting ready to move here, he went with a private school. He said it was not a tough choice.

"We just made a decision we thought would be better for our children," he said.

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