Schools chief calls summit in Kapolei
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Education Writer
Educators, parents and community leaders from across the state will meet Saturday at Kapolei High School for an education summit, part of a push by the state Department of Education to reinvent public schools.
The summit, called by state schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto, comes as Gov. Linda Lingle and Democrats in the Legislature are locked in a fractious debate over education reform.
But Hamamoto said yesterday that she hopes the summit will focus on areas where the two sides agree, while also giving educators a plan for change no matter what the Legislature decides.
"Our plan is clear," Hamamoto said. "We know what we need to do. We're going to talk about how we get there."
Hamamoto said the DOE — a frequent target of criticism by both the governor and lawmakers — is working toward giving principals more power at their schools, increasing parental involvement and building partnerships with the private sector.
Lingle, who will open the summit, has called for breaking up the DOE into seven school districts with locally elected boards and replacing the state Board of Education with an appointed standards and accountability commission.
Democrats have proposed expanding existing School Community Based Management councils to every school and giving the new councils more control over school budgets and curriculum.
Both the governor and the Democrats favor a new student spending formula that bases school finance on student need instead of enrollment. But they have not reached agreement on how much control principals should have over spending, with the governor proposing 90 percent and leading Democrats suggesting 75 percent.
Hamamoto opposes the governor on the local school boards proposal. The timing of the summit and the fact that both the governor and superintendent are speaking, will give it a definite political context.
Meanwhile, Lingle's education advisory committee, Citizens Achieving Reform in Education, paid for radio advertisements across the Islands this week backing local school boards. "These radio spots are part of our ongoing commitment to involve the public in the education discussion and to keep the people informed about our plans to improve education," Lingle said.
The DOE expects around 350 invited guests at the summit. Portions of the summit, which includes panel discussions and smaller workshops, will be televised live from 8 to 10 a.m. on cable channel 56 on O'ahu, Maui, Kaua'i, Moloka'i and Lana'i, and channel 53 on the Big Island.
The keynote speaker is Tony Wagner, a Harvard educator working with the DOE to help transform middle schools and high schools. Many of his ideas, including that many traditional public schools are obsolete and need to be reinvented as smaller, schools-within-schools that give students different academic options, were echoed by Hamamoto in her "State of the Schools" speech to the Legislature in January.
A delegation from San Francisco, including the city's schools superintendent, Arlene Ackerman, will talk about how the school district there adopted a new spending formula and stronger school councils three years ago, the same changes Democrats in Hawai'i are considering today.
Several key Democrats are looking to San Francisco as an example.
Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
