Posted on: Sunday, November 21, 2004

ISLAND VOICES

By Jerome G. Manis

In January, the governor and Legislature will disagree again about their divergent proposals to reform public schools in Hawai'i. Our political arena is the site of a critical question: Can either of the two opposing policies solve the serious problems of Hawai'i's schools?

This question is important for Hawai'i's residents. They surely should be concerned that this year's school budget is more than $1.75 billion for 181,897 school-age children in their state.

Earlier this year, Gov. Linda Lingle proposed replacing the single school board and highly centralized school system with seven school districts, each with its own school board. Could that resolve the problems?

Lingle's plan was rejected by the Legislature, which passed an act "reinventing" the school system. That act specified more than a dozen changes: empowering principals, strengthening community involvement, enhancing teacher education, reducing class sizes, reducing bureaucracy, among others. Will all that overcome the harmful conditions in Hawai'i's schools?

Evaluating the proposed reforms requires a careful look at the overall school system. The elected Board of Education is responsible for all public elementary and secondary schools in Hawai'i. Allocations of money, staff, programs, supplies, and building and maintenance issues are decided by this state board. There is little autonomy among individual schools.

The governor's proposal to divide the school system into seven districts offers a clear-cut change from the past. The legislative action offers more autonomy for public schools but retains a unified system.

The first task is to examine the decentralized plan. It provides much autonomy but it also raises critical questions. Will schools continue to receive equal money for every student? Will each of the seven school boards be permitted to decide teacher salaries, class sizes, curriculums, textbooks, building plans and repairs? Will there be added costs?

Next, we need to consider the advantages of centralization. Most notable is that Hawai'i's unified system is ranked first among the 50 states in financial fairness to individual schools (School Rankings, Morgan Quito, 2003). Additionally, the centralized Hawai'i system is second-highest nationally in its proportion of teachers to other school personnel.

The structural centralization of all its state agencies provides Hawai'i with the only "four stars" among the states in fairness to taxpayers. That is comparable to benefits centralization for stockholders in the business world. Corporations have a major advantage in efficiency of operation and economy. Their centralized character is basic to their success.

Hawai'i is first in its fairness to its schools because other states have seriously unequal school districts. Financed by property taxes, districts can have hundreds of dollars in differences for each of their students.

Yet in actual money, Hawai'i usually is ranked 50th nationally in proportion of state revenues allocated to public schools. This ranking from annual reports in school rankings also showed Hawai'i's $944 per-student share compared to the national average of $1,294.

That data contradicts the governor's claim in her State of the State address that the problem with our schools is "not money." Instead, there is much evidence that a shortage of money is the central weakness of our school system.

Financial inadequacy of Hawai'i's schools is worsened by the state's high cost of living, the highest of the 50 states. State public schools, like state residents, need to spend more to survive than in any other state.

Does the bottom ranking of Hawai'i's school financing affect our ability to educate pupils? There is much evidence of its serious consequences. Low SAT scores is one — Hawai'i's average SAT score is ranked 40th among the states. The money link to low SATs has much supporting data.

In elementary-school class size, Hawai'i ranks among the worst — the sixth-largest classes among the states. Class size is known to be most important for younger children.

Teacher salaries are ranked 20th nationally. That is lower than it seems, given the state's extremely high cost of living. Moreover, that level is maintained by a growing proportion of uncertified teachers, now about half of all appointments. Given the growing shortage of teachers nationwide, these problems will likely increase in the years ahead.

The U.S. Department of Education predicts a national shortage of about 700,000 teachers by 2008. Increasing competition with other states will require much higher salaries for current and new teachers in Hawai'i — or even fewer qualified ones.

Although supplies and maintenance of classrooms and buildings cannot be ranked precisely, reports of their status have often been described as poor. If that is correct, the overall quality of public schools can be seen, in nationwide financial comparisons, as being at the poverty level.

The basic problem of Hawai'i's educational system clearly is money. In the state budgeting process, the well-being of children has a very low priority. Neither proposal, by the governor or the Legislature, offers any potentially helpful solution to the money deficiency of Hawai'i's public education system.

Jerome G. Manis is a Honolulu resident, a former university professor and former director of the Social Research Center at Western Michigan University. He wrote this article for The Advertiser.