The key stumbling block in returning teachers to the classroom on 27 furlough days is that the $50 million the governor is offering is not enough to cover all costs, union officials say.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association and state negotiators last week were unable to reach agreement on how to restore furlough days, mainly because union and Department of Education officials say they are worried that Gov. Linda Lingle's plan, by their tally, was $19.3 million short of what it would cost to restore 27 furlough days. That's even if teachers were to swap their planning days, without additional pay, as the governor has suggested.

They worry that restoring furlough days, and the $19 million shortage, would result in layoffs of 2,500 full-time employees, an increase in class sizes and elimination of school programs.

Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto and the state Board of Education have said they will continue negotiations with the Hawaii State Teachers Association, though no further talks are scheduled with Lingle's representatives.

Lingle proposed last month using $50 million from the state's rainy day fund to reduce furlough days by 12 and have teachers swap 15 planning days for furlough days. That would eliminate 27 furlough days — all furlough days from January forward.

But James Brese, the chief financial officer for the state Department of Education, said the money from the rainy day fund wouldn't even be enough to cover salaries for the 12 furlough days.

Part of the reason is that the DOE would not be receiving the full $50 million, Brese said.

"Altogether, over the two-year period, it turned out we were only going to get about $42.6 million," Brese said, because of fringe benefits, Medicare, and Social Security taxes that would have to be taken out of the money. And a portion was given to charter schools and their fringe benefit costs, he said.

"That's before we get to any of the operating costs that would be associated with the additional days we're talking about restoring," Brese said.

The salaries for "essential" school employees for 12 days works out to about $48 million.

"The cost of essential school employee salaries is more than what the governor had anticipated," Brese said.

Brese said other operating expenses such as food service, bus service, electricity, water and other nonsalary expenses would have to be covered by the DOE, as well. That brings the total public school shortfall of restoring all furlough days to $19.3 million, Brese said.

"Part of the deal was that the DOE would pick up all of the operating costs," Brese said.

LAYOFFS FEARED

Linda Smith, Lingle's senior policy adviser, said the state negotiating team thought progress had been made in talks with HSTA on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, HSTA representatives told state negotiators they were concerned about the $19 million shortfall that restoring the furlough days would create.

"When we came in on Wednesday morning, the first thing we are hearing from HSTA is they can't consider restoring the furloughs because now this is going to mean their brethren, other people in the DOE, are going to lose their jobs. That was the first expression," Smith said.

Smith said one of the seven-member HSTA bargaining team had told state negotiators that teachers "liked their furlough days," and that if the governor's proposal were taken out for a vote, it would be rejected.

"That made us realize we were at an impasse," Smith said.

HSTA DISMAYED

HSTA officials maintained last week that the barrier to accepting the governor's proposal was the financial shortfall that would result.

"That's a shortfall that the Department of Education would have to make up, because they aren't going to get any more money. They would have to reduce programs, lay off state employees. Why would we agree to something like that?" Wil Okabe, HSTA president, said after a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Okabe said Smith's statement that teachers like their furlough days was false.

"Our teachers do not like furlough Fridays. If they did, why would teachers have voted to voluntarily give up their planning days at 184 schools a few weeks ago?" Okabe said.

"This pattern of the governor's office distorting what HSTA says, in an attempt to avoid blame for the solutions they proposed, is hurting our children each day the furloughs remain in place. We continue to hold discussions with the BOE and DOE and hope that we can together work out a plan that is reasonable," Okabe said.

2,500 JOBS AT STAKE

The union and the state Department of Education estimate that the cost to operate the entire public school system is $5 million a day. They say $50 million from the rainy day fund could only restore 10 furlough days. Although, Lingle says $50 million should be enough to restore 12 days.

Education officials have said that, to cover the shortfall, up to 2,500 12-month employees would be laid off. Sixty- to 90-day notices would be sent in January, Brese said. The layoffs would only result in about $18 million savings since they would be occurring at the end of a fiscal year, rather than the beginning.

They also said class sizes may also have to be increased, resulting in a reduction of more than 400 non-tenured teachers.

The 2,500 12-month employees represents a significant chunk of the DOE's nonteacher workforce. Of the 21,600 employees in the DOE, about 20,600 are teachers or employees who provide services to students at the school level.

Only about 1,000 employees are considered district or state level. The BOE cut about 250 state and district positions last October.

"Contrary to popular belief, there are not that many people on the state level or even at the district level," Brese said.

Many 12-month employees are concentrated at the school level, such as principals , vice principals , clerical workers, school secretaries or custodians.

Brese also said the state Board of Education would have to consider another round of program cuts to public schools, on top of some $40 million that was cut in October 2008. Programs that were proposed to the BOE earlier last week included the Onizuka Memorial Space Museum, the Koke'e Discovery Center, the Keäkealani Outdoor Education Center, the Nänäi-kapono Community and School Museum, several literacy programs and adult education programs.