The Hawaii State Teachers Association said yesterday that teachers are willing to go back to the classroom on furlough days if they are paid to do so, calling into question a portion of Gov. Linda Lingle's proposal to restore 27 "furlough Fridays" beginning in January.

HSTA officials met privately for the first time yesterday with Lingle administration officials to discuss the governor's plan to end furlough Fridays. Lingle has proposed ending teacher furlough days with a combination of paying teachers from the state's rainy day fund and asking teachers to give up their planning days.

The teachers union yesterday did not directly answer whether teachers were willing to give up their planning days to restore 15 furlough days.

"We are willing to go back to the classroom, as long as the governor provides money and resources. The amount the governor is willing to provide would determine how many furlough days could be restored," Wil Okabe, president of the HSTA, said in a written statement.

Okabe said the governor has other options available to reduce the furlough days without tapping the state's rainy day fund.

"As stated by House Finance Chair Marcus Oshiro, there are multiple ways to accomplish this (ending furloughs)," Okabe said.

Oshiro, D-39th (Wahiawä), has suggested the governor rescind her restriction of money already appropriated to the Department of Education. The governor cut the DOE's appropriation by $134 million when state tax revenues declined.

Lingle's plan would require the state and the HSTA to reopen the teachers' contract and negotiate having teachers give up 15 planning days that would be used to replace furlough Fridays. Money from the rainy day fund — about $50 million — would cover an additional 12 days, for 27 furlough days in all.

But since the governor announced her plan on Nov. 15, several questions have been raised by the state Board of Education and the HSTA.

IS $50M ENOUGH?

Board of Education Chairman Garrett Toguchi last week questioned whether the $50 million would cover 12 days, as the governor estimates. Toguchi said it costs about $5 million a day to run the public school system, meaning $50 million would only cover about 10 days.

Also last week, some members of the teachers union suggested that teachers may be unwilling to give up their planning days.

The current HSTA contract allots about 10 noninstructional days per year. These are days teachers don't see students and instead show up to school to plan curriculum or participate in professional development workshops, which are necessary to maintain a teachers license or qualify for federal "Highly Qualified Teacher" status.

These days include six planning and waiver days. They also include four days scheduled at the beginning and the end of each semester as teacher workdays.

EARLY STAGES

Under Lingle's plan, those days would be redistributed to cover furlough Fridays.

Toguchi, who did not attend yesterday's meeting, said the negotiation process is in its infant stages and more talks are needed before it will be clear whether Lingle's plan will work as proposed. Toguchi said he believed an agreement will be reached, but he was unsure whether that means all 27 days will be restored.

"The fact that she (Lingle) has put money into this effort speaks optimistically of us coming to a new agreement with the teachers," Toguchi said.

Sources familiar with the discussion said the Lingle administration considered the talks as progress. The teachers union had questions about how the governor's plan would work, they said, such as which teachers would return to the classroom and how much it would cost the DOE to open schools on furlough days.