Education a top voter concern

By Gordon Y.K. Pang and Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Kaimuki resident Lisa Lau wants the state Legislature and Gov. Linda Lingle to tackle public education, the crystal methamphetamine epidemic and the high cost of prescription drugs this session.

The Sadoyamas set time aside for reading and school projects. Parents Eric and Judy say smaller class sizes could help Hawai'i's public education system. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

She said she does not know the finer points of the debate over doing away with the Board of Education in favor of localized school panels, as espoused by Lingle, but she likes the concept.

"If it was for your area, you'd be more likely to take action," Lau said. "It would get the parents involved — like neighborhood boards. By doing the district boards, you decentralize the problem."

With the state Legislature opening its 60-day session last week, Lau was one of more than two dozen Hawai'i residents interviewed by The Advertiser in an effort to learn what the community believes should be the main priorities for lawmakers. Their beliefs will be a major gauge for lawmakers trying to reflect the will of the people in passing various measures.

Legislators may want to have a good understanding of residents' sentiments with the approaching fall elections when all 51 seats in the House of Representatives and 12 Senate seats are up for grabs.

Most of the residents cited issues that lawmakers and Lingle have promised to tackle — education reform and drug-related crimes, but there was no clear consensus on solutions for those problems.

Several other concerns were raised, however, with the most oft-repeated one being traffic on O'ahu.

Lau also wants the Legislature to tackle prescription drug prices, but not just for the elderly and those most needy. Even though she has a prescription drug plan provided by her employer, her family still has to spend at least $50 a month on various prescriptions.

Lau noted that the governor of one Mainland state is negotiating to have prescription drugs purchased from a company in Canada at a substantial discount. "Why don't we do the same thing?" she said.

Sandi Gabrielli, a software engineer from Temple Valley, is skeptical about the governor's plan to create seven local school boards. "I don't know if further localizing things are going to help," she said, adding that her belief is that a centralized system allows for financing to be spread move evenly.

The Democratic leadership in the House and Senate want to expand the existing 13-member board and put more emphasis on school community based management policies.

Annie Ogashi, Gabrielli's 23-year-old daughter, strongly disagreed with her mother on local school boards. "When there's this many people, you need to break it up," she said. "Give it a chance; obviously it's not working the way it is now."

A number of residents echoed Ogashi's comments.

Kane'ohe resident Paul Gundach, 55, a sign maker, said localized school boards would allow those in a community to have a greater say in what happens at their schools. "I think parents in that area would be more involved," he said.

Laura Lewis, 49, of Kapolei, said she would be doing just that. The daycare provider, mother of seven and grandmother of three said she has never been to a Board of Education meeting. "But if there's a local board meeting addressing the specific needs of local students, I would go," she said.

"People in a community know the problems of that community and the needs of that community."

Kalihi Valley residents Eric and Judy Sadoyama, whose three children attend public school, said it's important to improve public education, but that politicians are focusing on the wrong area.

Rather than trying to restructure the system, policymakers should reduce class sizes, they said.

"They're trying to do the easy things, the things that don't need a budget increase," said Eric Sadoyama, 37, an environmental health specialist with the state Health Department. "This whole thing with reorganizing is just to distract the public from the central issue: There are not enough teachers for the number of students that we have."

Judy Sadoyama, 38, a Farrington High School teacher, stressed that students have different personal and academic needs. "If you do the math, 20 students can learn so much more from you than 35," she said.

Judy Sadoyama also said that while some say local school boards will enable schools to better serve community needs, schools and teachers statewide will still be held to the same educational standards.

Combating the state's ice problem was also on many people's minds.

A Democratic-led task force has recommended spending $21.6 million to expand treatment, prevention and intervention programs. Lingle and the Republicans say that's too much money and instead are focusing on giving law enforcement officials more tools to take down those involved.

Lau, the Kaimuki resident, said she wants the state to target financing for education, prevention and rehabilitation. But she also wants authorities to ensure that people in the community are involved and make residents more aware about spotting ice activity in their own neighborhoods, she said.

Richard Dennison, 46, of Kaka'ako, estimated that some 70 percent of the people he knows have been affected by the ice epidemic in one way or another. Either they are related to, or know someone who has an ice problem or has fallen victim to criminals seeking desperately to feed their habit, said Dennison, an inventory control manager.

Rose Sato, 74, a retired saleswoman from Salt Lake, said she wants the state to tackle crystal methamphetamine and other drugs in the community. She said she wants to keep her young grandchildren drug-free and noted that she knows people whose lives have been affected by drugs. "I have friends who are suffering financially" because their children are involved in drugs, she said.

Alex Spencer, 29, a Kamuela construction worker, said more and more of his friends have fallen victim to the ice epidemic. The battle has to be fought on three fronts, he said: educating students at a young age, providing authorities with more tools to fight drug-related criminals and more resources to provide treatment programs for those who are incarcerated to ensure they do not return again.

Spencer's wife, Michiko, said she endorses the Democrats' plan to spend $21.6 million to combat ice, although she is skeptical. "It's like 20 years too late," she said.

Several other issues were also mentioned by those who spoke to The Advertiser last week:

• Traffic on O'ahu. Dennison said he owns a car but prefers to catch a bus from Kaka'ako to Kapolei to get to work. Dennison endorses the concept of light rail and said he would ride it because it would be more convenient. He said he would ride the rail to work and not complain about paying a half percent more excise tax for the pleasure.

Richard Cortez, 42, of 'Ewa Beach, also argued for the benefits of a light rail transit system. He said the state and city have no choice but to raise taxes for a light rail system. "We don't have the resources to get the money for it (otherwise)," Cortez said.

The Spencers said it would be unfair if an excise tax were applied statewide to pay for a rail line on O'ahu. Alex Spencer, who called traffic along West Hawai'i's crowded arterial roads the biggest problem facing his area, said there is a long enough list of road projects that can be dealt with.

• Long-term care: Michiko Spencer, a registered nursed, said lawmakers should focus on ensuring that long-term care is available to more people in the community.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com. Or reach either at 525-8070.