EDITORIAL
Education too crucial to be left to politics; get it done or leave

One of the most striking features of the ambitious, if flawed, No Child Left Behind education law was the bipartisan support it enjoyed as it was being written.

Although this was a cornerstone proposal brought by President Bush when he arrived from Texas, it enjoyed support from prominent congressional Democrats, most notably Sen. Edward Kennedy.

It's too important

It was a moment that illustrated what should be a universally accepted truth: Education is too important to be left to partisanship and politics.

Sadly, that bipartisan agreement is rapidly fading. Kennedy has become critical of the way the Bush administration has implemented the law, and several Democratic candidates for president have been openly hostile, calling the No Child effort a failure that should be abolished.

And unless there is a surge of statesmanship here at home in Hawai'i, we could see the same fate befall local efforts at education reform.

There is near universal consensus that education is the No. 1 policy issue facing the state. Getting our schools and our kids ready for the challenges of the 21st century is the most important task before our state today.

There is disagreement over what is the right way to "fix" our school system, and that's OK. At this point, it is important to let a thousand ideas bloom. The best will stick if we give them the opportunity.

Political battles loom

But disagreement over educational policy is one thing. Political battles for control of the reform process or the education system itself is entirely another.

And there is growing danger that the upcoming session of the Legislature will see exactly that. Politics and competition for power threatens to overshadow what should be a unified effort to get our schools moving.

The current battleground is over the proposal by Gov. Linda Lingle to break up our single statewide school system into seven elected boards. The idea is that smaller boards would be closer to, and thus more responsive to, their community.

That's a legitimate argument. But there are equally strong arguments on the other side. In fact, the trend across the country has often been in the opposite direction: toward more centralized control and authority.

Democrats, who have their own ideas about decentralizing authority, are lining up to oppose Lingle's proposal.

The result could be a political battle where education becomes a victim of political positioning for the fall campaign. That would be a tragic mistake and a disservice to our children.

Outlines of agreement

The interesting thing is that in the talk and discussion about education, there are broad outlines of agreement that could bring all sides together this legislative session if there is the will. Among the general areas of agreement:

• Schools should be given greater autonomy to educate in ways appropriate to their particular student body. That is, one-size-fits-all policies and programs don't work.

A key component of this autonomy idea is empowering individual principals to become true CEOs of their schools. Time and again, research has shown that successful schools are almost always the result of an empowered, dynamic, independent principal.

• The physical state of many of our public schools is a disgrace. Both the Legislature and the administration appear ready to spend considerable sums of money to upgrade the physical plant of our education system.

But the task means more than simply appropriating dollars that may never be spent. The red tape that prevents or delays schools from making critical improvements needs to be torn off and thrown away.

Rise above politics

All this and more can be done this year. The public must demand that all the players at the state Capitol rise above politics and ambition and make improving public education the first and foremost goal of the 2004 session.

If they cannot do that, they don't deserve to be in office.