The war of words over funding our public schools has flared again, and it's time to put aside the hyperbole and get some real answers.

On one side of the divide is Senate Republican leader Fred Hemmings, who calls the Department of Education a "bloated bureaucracy" that fails to spend its generous funding efficiently and sorely needs a comprehensive state audit to force transparency and accountability.

On the other side is Senate education chairman Norman Sakamoto, who concedes "the dam is leaking and we need to do a better job spending the resources we have," but believes even more money is needed in the schools to improve student achievement.

It's possible that both are right, but how can Sakamoto and the DOE make a credible case that more money is needed without the accounting Hemmings wants to assure that the schools aren't wasting any of the funds they have and could improve weak test results in reading and math with fresh cash?

There are disagreements on the exact numbers, but the indisputable reality is that we're spending more to educate fewer enrolled students with little, if any, improvement in their achievement.

It's getting to the point of absurdity to keep pouring more money into this system on faith without a thorough, honest and open examination of what we're getting for our money.

We're spending $2.34 billion this school year on public education, more than 22 percent of the total state budget, and nobody is satisfied with the results. Why are we so afraid to look closely at the money trail and let everybody in on the discussion of changes that obviously need to be made?

The DOE likes to point out that 184 of its 282 schools met federal No Child Left Behind benchmarks in 2007 compared to 100 in 2006, and any progress is certainly welcome.

But we must keep in mind that current benchmarks are low and local test scores were still well below the national average, with fewer than a third of fourth-graders and eighth-graders tested — in some cases as few as 20 percent — proficient in reading and math.

Unless we start doing something different, it's difficult to imagine Hawai'i schools coming anywhere near the 100 percent proficiency in reading and math that will be required by federal law in 2014.

It seemed the Board of Education conceded as much recently when it moved to create a new class of graduate degree called the "College and Career Ready Diploma," which essentially certifies that bearers are ready for college or the workforce.

Since when have we given up on the fundamental American ideal that all public high school graduates should be prepared for one or the other? It's a startling admission that the regular diploma currently issued by the DOE isn't worth much.

Getting back to the money trail, a 2005 audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP commissioned by the Board of Education found grossly inadequate financial controls and widespread duplication in the DOE that made it impossible to determine whether many of its programs were spending their money wisely or meeting their objectives.

There was little public discussion of the audit at the time — and even less discussion since of what DOE has done to correct the alarming deficiencies auditors found. School board members said they intended to implement the auditors' recommendations gradually so as not to shock the department.

Maybe this is a department that needs to be shocked if our kids are ever going to become fully proficient in the basic skills they need to achieve their life dreams.

David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net. His columns are archived at www.volcanicash.net. Read his daily blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.