HONOLULU — Several Hawaii lawmakers are asking Gov. Linda Lingle to spend some $50 million to end public school closures.

The seven Democrats acknowledge in their letter Monday that other programs would suffer or tax increases would be required to make up for the deficit that would be created.
But they argue that Hawaii’s children shouldn’t suffer from elected officials’ inability to agree on spending priorities.
Hawaii’s school year was cut to the shortest in the nation after the Republican governor restricted education funding and signed off on a labor contract with the teachers union that closes schools on many Fridays.
The letter is signed by Sen. Carol Fukunaga and Reps. Joe Bertram, Gil Keith-Agaran, Sylvia Luke, Karl Rhoads, Mark Takai and Glenn Wakai.