Posted on: Monday, July 26, 2004

EDITORIAL
School funding should not be politicized

A recent outside study of Hawai'i's spending on the federal No Child Left Behind law provides some — although not nearly enough — clarity on what the effort is costing us.

The study says the Department of Education spends an extra $30 million a year to meet the law's requirements.

That's not a complete figure, however, since the state was already launched on many programs that fit the requirements of No Child. Thus, the total amount devoted to No Child is considerably higher.

It is true that the federal government flows money to the state to help pay for No Child mandates. But much of that money is earmarked for specific programs, so it cannot all be used to cover that extra "overhead" of the federal law.

Unfortunately, the real story of how much the DOE is spending on No Child and where the money comes from has become muddled by politics.

The DOE wants more state support, both for general education operations and for No Child expenses. So it uses any evidence of shortfall it can as a negotiating chip.

It is often pointed out that states, including Hawai'i, are not spending all they currently receive. And there is evidence that substantial sums are left unspent for categorical programs that local school systems (including Hawai'i) have not yet launched.

The ideal would be for educators, administrators and policy-makers to set political issues aside when it comes to the education of our children.

When the various interest groups who have a stake in running and financing our public schools fall into the blame game trap, the losers are the kids we are supposed to educate.