School chief shares her frustrations with system
| • | Former principal made reform work at McKinley |
| • | Hamamoto's address to the Legislature |
| • | Editorial: Hamamoto sets course for real progress |
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Education Writer
Schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto stepped into the center of the debate over education reform yesterday, delivering a candid appraisal of public schools in which she acknowledged that the system is obsolete but passionately defended teachers and principals and their ability to improve education.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
However, she stressed that they can do so only if they are given the authority and if constant interference and second-guessing from lawmakers and the governor can be eliminated.
Schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto tells lawmakers that "the question isn't who is right, but what is right."
Her unprecedented speech before a joint session of the state House and Senate came just two days after Gov. Linda Lingle delivered her State of the State address outlining her plans for education reform, and it gave Hamamoto a unique platform to counter the governor on an issue that is among the most pressing facing the state.
"Hold me accountable and expect results. But first, you must give me the tools and you must give me the space to do my job," Hamamoto said, drawing a standing ovation from Democrats and the audience in the Senate gallery, which included teachers and principals. Republican leaders stayed in their seats.
Hamamoto came across as genuine, several observers said, a one-time classroom teacher who understands the shortcomings of the system from the inside.
The superintendent, who admitted that her heart was pounding given the rare chance in the spotlight, talked about her own frustration with the state Department of Education when she was a teacher and principal and conceded that too many students today are failing basic math and reading tests.
Students leave unprepared
State schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto issued a call for lawmakers and the governor to give the state Department of Education sufficient money and the authority to do its job, beginning with empowering principals and schools by providing more lump-sum money and the authority to spend it as they see fit; and adopting a weighted student formula that would allocate money based on the needs of each student. She had these specific ideas: • Requiring principals and teachers to make sure that students meet standards, including that all students be able to read by the end of third grade. • Providing parents with user-friendly report cards. • Overhauling School Community Based Management councils by giving them more responsibility over academics and spending. • Instituting performance-based contracts and pay raises for principals, who would work year-round instead of 10 months. Teachers would be put on 11-month contracts, with 10 months of teaching and a month of paid training. • Putting all schools on a common year-round calendar. • Untangling the DOE from other state agencies to give it more control over budgeting, hiring, construction and repairs. • A statewide education summit March 27 on how best to reinvent public schools.
Hamamoto said it is unacceptable that schools are not preparing students for the workforce and refused to defend the status quo. But she also told lawmakers that she opposes Lingle's plan for breaking up the DOE into seven school districts with locally elected boards, arguing that it would not improve student achievement.
At a glance
Hamamoto said she was encouraged by the apparent consensus among educators, lawmakers and the governor on a new student-spending formula that would send money to schools based on student need, instead of enrollment. She also said there is agreement on empowering school principals and giving parents more choices over which schools their children attend.
Hamamoto had personally invited Lingle and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona to attend the speech, but the governor said yesterday that they both had other events scheduled.
Lingle, in a press conference yesterday afternoon, said she is optimistic about reform but seized on Hamamoto's comments that the system is obsolete, test scores are poor and change is necessary. "Those are very sad statements for the superintendent to have to make in public," the governor said.
Other Republicans said Hamamoto's appearance was choreographed by Democrats who oppose local school boards and
fear they are losing the public debate with Lingle on reform. State Senate Minority Leader Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo, Portlock) described the speech as "one of the best PR efforts put together by the status quo in a long time."
State House Minority Leader Galen Fox, R-23rd (Waikiki, Ala Moana, Kaka'ako), said Democrats are realizing there is a groundswell of public support for change. "They realize that people feel pretty strongly about the need to reform public education," he said.
Several people thought Hamamoto's words might resonate with teachers and principals, whose cooperation is essential to reform.
Speech well-received
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Deanna Smith, a parent of a Wai'anae High School senior, said she generally agreed with Hamamoto's speech. "I respect what she's saying enough to believe that she's got the right idea," she said.
Schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto received a standing ovation from Democrats and the audience in the Senate gallery yesterday when she said to hold her accountable and expect results but also give her the tools and space she needs to do her job.
"I think she was very candid," said Jim Shon of the Hawai'i Educational Policy Center, a research group. "She was talking education talk. I think a lot of educators believe we have to do something different."
Now that Lingle, the Democrats and Hamamoto have given the public their visions for reform, the real negotiating will start in the Legislature, and lawmakers could move quickly to harness any momentum.
State House Rep. Roy Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Palisades), the chairman of the House Education Committee, said his committee and the House Judiciary Committee are expected to hold a joint hearing tomorrow on constitutional amendments on local school boards and, as Democrats want, to expand the Board of Education from 13 to 17 voting members to make it more geographically representative.
Lingle said she would testify at the hearing, and her advisers have said they would ask that both issues go before voters in November.
Takumi also will propose a constitutional amendment blocking the governor from using the line-item veto on DOE spending. Next week, Takumi hopes to hold a hearing on strengthening existing School Community Based Management councils and Lingle's competing proposals for local boards and a statewide standards and accountability commission.
Yesterday, in her speech, Hamamoto also recommended the overhaul of the school councils, giving members — which she likened to a board of directors — more responsibilities over academic and budget issues at schools. Many Democrats believe the councils could give teachers, parents and even students more influence at individual schools than local school boards would, but Lingle's supporters view the councils as advisory panels that lack the authority or oversight of a locally elected board.
Hamamoto also called for a common, year-round school calendar and for giving principals year-round performance contracts, instead of the 10 months they work today. Teachers, she said, should work for 11 months, 10 months in the classroom and one month for paid training.
Lingle's advisory committee, Citizens Achieving Reform in Education, made similar recommendations for principals, but while Lingle would remove principals from their union, Hamamoto said the DOE would respect collective bargaining and cooperate with organized labor.
Independence for DOE
Both Hamamoto and the Lingle administration indicated yesterday that the DOE should have independence from other state agencies when it comes to hiring and school repair and maintenance.
The competing speeches this week by Lingle and Hamamoto were as much about defining reform for the public as convincing lawmakers, who have drawn their own lines over education. While all sides are talking hopefully about progress, the debate is quickly being whittled down to whether lawmakers will support a ballot question on local school boards or whether they will rebuff Lingle and give principals and school councils more power over school finance within the existing structure of the DOE.
Lingle has said that voters should decide. Hamamoto did not mention a ballot question to lawmakers yesterday, but the BOE has supported expanding the statewide school board.
"The question isn't who is right, but what is right," Hamamoto said.
Staff writer Lynda Arakawa contributed to this report. Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
