Gov. Linda Lingle said today that the Hawaii State Teachers Association should not wait until Dec. 15 to resume talks on teacher furloughs because the delay could jeopardize action on her proposal before the end of the year.

Lingle, speaking to reporters at the state Capitol, described her offer to reduce teacher furloughs as "fair" and "generous" and urged the teachers union to put it before teachers in a vote. The governor has proposed taking $50 million from the state's rainy day fund and has asked teachers to swap planning days for furlough days to eliminate 27 of 34 furlough days in the teachers' two-year contract with the state.

The teachers union has said all representatives of its bargaining team will not be available to meet again until Dec. 15. The state and the union have met privately three times on Lingle's proposal.

The state House and Senate have set a deadline of the end of the year to return in special session to authorize use of the rainy day fund to reduce teacher furloughs.

Wil Okabe, the HSTA's president, said in a statement that it is Lingle who has refused to negotiate.

"The governor and her team have shown no flexibility and have adopted a take-it-or-leave-it approach," Okabe said. "The HSTA has made viable offers to provide an interim solution but they have all been summarily rejected by the governor. We remain ready to offer more viable options."

The teachers union has also launched radio and newspaper advertisements defending the value of planning days. The union has been concerned about the
impact of giving up all teacher planning days.

Lingle said state representatives are available to meet at any time and said a delay by the teachers union could be determined as an unwillingness to proceed.

But Lingle also said that her offer stands, indicating that the talks involve whether the teachers will accept the offer, not whether the state will modify the proposal.

"I see this as an opportunity, not a negotiation," Lingle said. "And I think they need to see it as an opportunity.

"If the goal is to get the children back in the classroom, this was a very fair proposal, I think a generous proposal, and one that they should take."

Eric Seitz, an attorney who has filed a federal lawsuit challenging teacher furloughs on behalf of students, said today that he would amend his complaint to include the teachers union.

Seitz said the teachers union is the obstacle in preventing Lingle's proposal to reduce teacher furloughs from going forward.

"At this point, everything is being blocked by the teachers union," he said.

Okabe countered that Seitz would likely not endorse Lingle's proposal if he knew all the details.

"We know that Mr. Seitz is concerned about the welfare of Hawaii¹s public school children. We, therefore, believe he would not want us to agree to the governor¹s proposal, which would take away resources from our classrooms and greatly diminish the quality of education our students need," he said.

"Nor do we believe Mr. Seitz would endorse a proposal that forces schools to operate with a skeleton staff, without a full complement of administrators and staff, including health aides, security personal‹as well as educational assistants, occupational therapists and other professional service providers who are required to care for the special needs children whom Mr. Seitz champions."