The 2008 Legislature cut $44.7 million from the $5.3 billion state budget, and the effect will be a reduction in social services provided to children and families throughout the state. How will these cuts affect a school's ability to educate children?

Schools and their administrators, teachers and staff must take into account the community surrounding the school and the needs of the families in that community. It is often said that it takes a village to educate a child. Clearly, schools and talented teachers cannot do it alone. We must care about the families' welfare as well.

In this month's Voices of Educators column, we invited a guest writer to address what the legislative cuts and the resulting diminished safety net of social services mean to her school. Ruth Silberstein is a transformational elementary school administrator who has led her school against the odds to achieve unconditional adequate yearly progress. What will these cuts mean to families in Palolo Valley? For elementary teachers at this school that serves so many poor and immigrant children? And what will it mean for the community?

In the dialogue that follows, Silberstein poses questions frequently heard from the public and responds with real situations that demonstrate the impact of social services and education working in concert to educate the children in that community.

Question: What types of social services may be reduced or eliminated due to the budget cuts?

Educator: While support services are provided within the school system (if weighted student formula allows), and most Department of Education personnel address the educational needs of their students, additional services also are needed from outside agencies, including community programs that offer translation services to immigrant families, job training, homeless shelters, parenting classes and counseling.

Question: What do schools do when they know students are homeless and sleeping in a car, a park or on the beach with a parent?

Educator: When we know about such conditions, we contact a homeless shelter to assist the family. We generally would try to get the welfare agency and police involved. We cannot expect children to learn to the best of their potential if they do not have a place to sleep and food to eat. We are very concerned about what will happen to our children, but the school cannot substitute for social services agencies.

Question: Are schools aware that some students are out until midnight or later, roaming the neighborhood, and there is an increase in drug and gang activity?

Educator: Yes, we are well aware of these activities. The reality is that some students fall asleep at their desks by 8 a.m. Their parents are working hard at multiple jobs to make ends meet. Children are unsupervised, hence the influence of gangs, drugs and bullying. Many parents think their neighbors will automatically take care of their children, like in a village. When we know about these situations, we call on outside agencies to provide after-school tutoring and assist with homework. Often this includes translators or interpreters.

Question: How does the school manage all this? Is an intercultural liaison needed?

Educator: For new immigrants, acclimating to our culture can be traumatic. There are cultural differences, such as not attending school regularly, that clash and fall upon the school to address. There is no law that mandates school attendance in many immigrants' homelands. Parents often say "yes," when they mean "no." They don't understand why we make a home visit after they did not attend a federally mandated special education meeting to which they had confirmed attendance.

While we are learning about their cultures, no one is helping them understand American culture. Often, their anger and frustration are directed at the school. The "intercultural liaison" most often comes from a social services support agency, as well as the school.

Question: It must be difficult for learning to take place with all these barriers. What is the school doing to meet expectations of adequate yearly progress?

Educator: Language barriers, although a challenge, do not prevent learning. Some students with limited English excel in subjects such as math. Some students go on to higher institutions of learning and pursue careers in business, music, education, law and medicine. One student with no English at kindergarten entrance completed her schooling here, moved into middle, high school, and the university, and is now about to enter her residency at Harvard Medical School. This is the result of having support services involved in the child's education.

In order to successfully meet academic and life expectations for the student, we must address the whole human being, who is entitled to human dignity and respect. In the past, education primarily focused on intellectual development, but today it also involves the spirit and the body.

Schooling within global contexts has become complex. It does take a village to educate a child. Schools can no longer do it alone.

Support services are essential components of the village. The school and support service agencies must amalgamate their energies. Neither can accomplish their goals alone.

Ruth Silberstein is principal at Palolo Elementary School. She recently was named as Hawai'i's 2008 National Distinguished Principal. Silberstein is the main author of this month's column; members of the Voices group collaborated with her to develop the final document.

This commentary is part of a series of articles prepared by Voices of Educators, a nonprofit coalition designed to foster debate and public policy change within Hawai'i's public education system, in partnership with The Advertiser. It appears in Focus on the first Sunday of the month. Voices of Educators comprises some of Hawai'i's top education experts, including: Liz Chun, executive director of Good Beginnings Alliance; Patricia Hamamoto, superintendent of the Department of Education; Christine Sorensen, dean of the University of Hawai'i's College of Education; Donald B. Young, Hawai'i Educational Policy Center; Roger Takabayashi from the Hawai'i State Teachers Association; Sharon Mahoe of the Hawai'i Teacher Standards Board; Alvin Nagasako of the Hawai'i Government Employees Association; and Robert Witt of the Hawai'i Association of Independent Schools. Visit their Web site at www.hawaii.edu/voice.