COMMENTARY
Business Roundtable: Put school needs first
By Nonie Toledo
The time has come to adopt a school-centered approach to public education. Members of the Hawaii Business Roundtable are willing to raise $500,000 in private money to help finance consulting services to make it happen.
The Hawaii Business Roundtable is a nonpartisan organization comprised of the chief executives of 50 major companies in the state, which collectively employ more than 67,000 Islanders. However, we are more than employers. We are parents and grandparents as well, people who believe there is no more important task before us than improving the quality of public education.
The teachers, principals and administrators who serve our children are, for the most part, dedicated professionals. They are the solution to our educational challenges, not the problem. The problem is an organizational system that lacks efficiency and effectiveness. Responsibility and accountability are diffused and unclear.
Based on several months of study of successes elsewhere, in consultation with education experts, the Roundtable believes the keys to improving schools are to:
1. Create a service culture within the Department of Education administration.
2. Empower principals with more budgetary and spending authority, autonomy and support.
3. Adopt a weighted student formula that considers the unique needs of each student.
4. Continue statewide funding for public education, a system that is fair and equitable.
• Create a DOE "service culture"
It makes sense to retain a statewide DOE, creating economies of scale by centralizing such functions as new-school development, capital expenditure prioritization, human resources, legal services, technology, curriculum development and standards.
However, today's DOE is system-centered. Today, in many ways, the principals work for the system. In a school-centered system, administrators should view schools as customers, not as subordinates. This shift will occur if schools control the budget for central office services, and the central staff adopts a culture to sell services to the schools.
Additionally, DOE should be given autonomy similar to the University of Hawai'i by eliminating inefficient fiscal and administrative ties to state agencies currently involved in school repairs, human resources, data processing, budgeting and other vital support areas. Give the school system more authority over these tools, and then hold the superintendent accountable for getting the jobs done.
• Empower principals
In a school-centered system, principals should be given the authority, autonomy and support to improve student achievement, and then held accountable for results, including student achievement, staff performance and parent and community support.
At least 90 percent of all operations money should be controlled at the school level. Principals should receive budgets in a lump sum, with the freedom to determine how to allocate the money between staff, supplies and support services. Principals should be free to purchase services from the central DOE, or outside vendors or to spend money directly at the school level.
Consider placing principals on three- to four-year performance contracts, with the right to return to positions for which they are certified with full recognition for time spent as a principal. Incentive compensation should also be considered.
Help principals and other DOE professionals to adapt to changing responsibilities by offering training in financial management, organizational efficiency and communications. Provide more training for teachers as well, and invest in assessment of students.
• Weighted student formula
Base financing of public schools on a weighted formula that takes into account the learning needs of each student. Dollars should follow students directly to schools, using a formula that gives different weights to different characteristics of students that may impact learning. For example, students with disabilities or where English is a second language may require more money than others.
The formula should be easily understandable, and phased in carefully by the 2006-07 school year to minimize disruption.
• Charter schools
Charter schools should be treated like independent school districts with equal money and accountability for achievement. They should serve as research and development labs to improve school achievement and serve as alternatives for parents.
• Community partnerships
Public education is everyone's business. Parents must be encouraged to participate and shown how to do so effectively. Additionally, Hawai'i's public-school system must encourage community partnerships, such as the existing relationships with the military, Kamehameha Schools, organized labor and private industries. Hawaii Business Roundtable members are committed to expanding the highly successful "Adopt-A-School" program.
• Enrollment choice
Parents should be given the right to enroll their child in any school of their choice, giving first rights to community students and those with legal rights to school enrollment. All open seats should be allocated via a public lottery system.
• School governance
Discussion of the number of school boards and board members has dominated public debate. We believe that governance change, in and of itself, will have limited impact on student achievement. Yes, a functional, supportive governance structure is vital. However, the other reforms described above need not be conjoined with the issues of governance and board structure in any legislative package.
That said, we believe that the existing governance structure is ambiguous, with the Board of Education, executive branch and legislative branch playing overlapping and unclear roles.
We are not educators and claim no special expertise in curriculum, testing or setting student performance standards. However, the members of the Hawaii Business Roundtable are all managers of organizations, with experience in promoting and effecting change to make organizations work more efficiently. We believe the above changes will make public education more effective.
Let's move ahead with an agenda for change in the 2004 session of the Legislature. Our keiki should not have to wait.
Nonie Toledo, vice president and general manager of Sprint Hawaii, is chairwoman of the Education Committee of the Hawaii Business Roundtable.
