Gov. Linda Lingle is turning up the pressure on the Board of Education and Department of Education to present to the Hawaii State Teachers Association the plan for restoring teacher furlough days that she proposed three weeks ago.

But the chair of the BOE is holding firm that an agreement is already in place to reduce the number of public school instruction days lost to the state's furlough program.

Meanwhile, Friday marked the ninth furlough day, with another scheduled for this Friday.

In a release issued late yesterday afternoon, Lingle accused the BOE and DOE of stonewalling her Jan. 8 proposal to use up to $50 million from the state's rainy day fund to restore 12 furlough Fridays (five this semester and seven in the 2010-11 school year) and convert 12 paid planning days into classroom instruction days (two this semester and 10 in the next school year).

"At this point, the Board of Education and Department of Education are standing in the way of resolving the furlough issue and preventing students from returning to school," Lingle said in the release.

"The BOE and DOE owe parents, students, teachers and the general public an explanation of why they refuse to even present this plan to the teachers," she said.

"The clock is ticking. The longer the BOE and DOE stonewall, the more our students will lose out on classroom time. In addition, the longer the BOE and DOE wait, the more likely it will be that the rainy day funds will be used to fill other needs in the community."

BOE chairman Garrett Toguchi dismissed Lingle's account of the situation.

Toguchi said the board sent Lingle a letter last week asking her to clarify several points, including provisions for campus safety when non-HSTA staff (including campus security officers) are still on furlough, and the degree to which Lingle is willing to negotiate specific terms of her proposal.

"We got no response," Toguchi said.

Toguchi called Lingle's claims of stonewalling "totally inaccurate."

TIME TO 'STEP UP'

"As governor, she has a lot of power and discretion," he said. "If she wanted to, she could take her proposal to the HSTA herself. There's just been a lack of communication. She has my (phone) number; she can call me. But she hasn't, nor has (senior policy adviser) Linda Smith or (state human resources director) Marie Laderta or anyone else in her administration."

On Nov. 15 last year, Lingle proposed using $50 million of the rainy day fund to restore 12 furlough days and converting 15 planning days into classroom instruction days but was rebuffed.

On Dec. 28, the HSTA and state education officials agreed to a plan that would restore seven furlough days using $35 million from the rainy day fund. Lingle rejected that plan.

On Jan. 8, Lingle announced a plan that was nearly identical to her Nov. 15 proposal.

Last week, the HSTA called on the state Legislature to honor the Dec. 28 agreement, despite Lingle's objections.

Linda Smith has previously said Lingle will not sign off on any legislative action to fund the Dec. 28 agreement.

"We have an agreement," Toguchi said. "The problem is that with the time that has passed, some of the (furlough) days have already been lost. We'd have to sit down again and clarify. But I'm still in favor of this proposal because we already have an agreement."

Toguchi said he is hopeful that the Legislature will authorize the funding for the HSTA plan. Still, he acknowledges that it still will be up to Lingle to release the money.

"Everybody has a hand at play here," he said. "We've stepped up, now it's time for the Legislature to step up, and then for the governor to step up. Anybody who doesn't want to step up should remove themselves from the process."