Posted on: Friday, November 19, 2004

EDITORIAL
Too many games in school spending

Gov. Linda Lingle's decision to throw $100 million worth of repair and maintenance projects directly into the lap of the Department of Education has a distinct in-your-face quality to it.

The transfer was part of a major education reform bill that Lingle originally vetoed after it passed the Legislature earlier this year.

The idea is that the school department knows better than anyone what needs to be repaired and in what order. For years the DOE has complained that it feels hamstrung by being forced to run repair and construction projects through the complex bureaucracy of the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS).

The accounting department and the school system have been negotiating — very slowly — a transfer of the necessary personnel and expertise with an eye on July as a target date.

So, in a bold move, Lingle cut through the fog and simply announced she was releasing $100 million in repair and maintenance money to the Department of Education, whether it is ready or not.

There will be no more finger-pointing at the Department of Accounting and General Services, Lingle said. In effect: You got a problem, take it to Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto.

Our guess is that the DOE will go back to Accounting and General Services and ask it to handle much of the work on contract. Clearly, the school system is not ready for a responsibility of this size.

Unhappily, as with so many instances involving education, this feels like a case of grownups arguing with grownups rather than placing the emphasis where it should be: on the children.

The idea of letting the Department of Education take the lead role on repair and maintenance decisions is a good one. This would be particularly so if individual principals had the flexibility to quickly decide what repairs or upkeep make the most sense for their schools.

But a shift of this magnitude cannot happen overnight. Hamamoto and Lingle should be working cooperatively to make this idea work rather than worrying about who will be left holding the bag when it fails.