Public schools across the state are closed today as some 13,000 teachers take the first of 17 furlough days as part of a plan to save money that has garnered national attention and angered parents.

Some 170,000 public school students have the day off.
Hundreds of students will spend the day in child care programs, but many others are staying home with caregivers or older siblings, and a lot of older kids are expected to converge on beaches, malls and parks.
The furlough plan has left parents scrambling for child care options, and many worried about how their children will be able to make up lost instructional time.
This morning, hundreds are expected to gather at the state Capitol for a rally to protest the furloughs.
About 800 parents and children alone will arrive on buses, and scores more are expected to come on their own.
Jo Curran, who helped organize the rally, said the protest is not just about “furlough Fridays.”
“This is about turning around and re-evaluating our attitude to education in Hawaii,” said Curran, whose child attends Kahala Elementary.
The furlough plan, drawn up as an emergency fix to help close the state’s massive budget gap, has attracted national attention and is increasingly being used as an example of the tough decisions states are having to make in the economic crisis.
In an opinion piece running in The Advertiser today, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said he is disappointed in the state’s decision to cut class time to save money.
“Sure, students may like the three-day weekends now, but I know they also realize that they will lose out in the long run if they don’t receive the education they need and deserve,” Duncan wrote in the column. “There has to be a better solution than cutting more than three weeks from the school year. Even in these difficult financial times, we have to invest in our children’s education.”
Yesterday, state Department of Education spokeswoman Sandy Goya said the department cannot yet say how much the furlough days will save.
Previous estimates put the savings at between $4 million and $5 million per furlough day.
The 17 “furlough Fridays” were part of a two-year contract the Hawaii State Teachers Association ratified in September. The furlough days amount to a 7.9 percent pay cut for teachers, and will give Hawaii the shortest school year in the nation.
As students left their schools yesterday for the long weekend, many had extra homework to occupy their time. Educators have voiced concerns about how the missed class time would affect students, and it appeared many teachers — especially at high schools — were trying to make it up by assigning more homework than usual.
But some students said even the extra homework wouldn’t keep them indoors today.
“We’re going to be chillin’,” said Tahilanu Halaifonua, a 17-year-old Kaimuki High School senior, laughing. “We’ll be at the beach.”
Several older students also said they were on babysitting duty, watching younger siblings or relatives’ children.
Kaimuki senior Natasha Mefy, 17, was being charged today with watching two siblings — a fourth grader and a kindergartner. But she planned to spend the morning at a campus tour of Heald College. She said the tour was the only productive thing she could find to do.
“I don’t like it,” she said, of the furlough plan, adding that it gives her a short senior year. She’s worried “about the education we’re going to miss.
Meanwhile, an estimated 2,200 school cafeteria workers, custodians and others not covered by the furlough agreement were expected to be at work today at their deserted campuses.