The president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association accused Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday of "attempting to rewrite history" by downplaying her role in approving furloughs for public-school teachers.

Wil Okabe, the HSTA's president, said it was the governor who originally wanted to furlough state workers.

The governor cannot order furloughs for teachers or workers at the state Department of Education, which is governed by the state Board of Education. Lingle imposed a 14 percent spending restriction on the department.

Lingle, the teachers' union, the department and the school board ultimately signed off on a two-year contract in September that calls for 17 furlough days a year for teachers on 10-month schedules and 21 furlough days a year for teachers on 12-month schedules.

Many parents and educators have protested teacher furloughs after the department and the teachers' union chose to schedule all 17 furlough days this year on Fridays, taking time away from classroom instruction.

Lingle said Friday that she wrongly assumed educators would not reduce classroom instruction, and that she has second-guessed her decision to agree.

"As the saying goes, success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan," Okabe said in a statement. "And apparently the governor wants to disown the furloughs she once championed and deny responsibility for them, now that they have turned out to be unpopular and the entire state realizes how detrimental they are to our children and Hawaii's K-12 educational system."

Okabe said Lingle also negotiated and signed off on the two-year contract with the Hawaii Government Employees Association that includes furloughs on Fridays for school principals and other educational officers.

"Let's be honest," he said. "The governor got the furloughs and layoffs she asked for. And now that the community is angry, she wants to point the finger at others. Unfortunately for the governor, everything she has said and done regarding furloughs is public record. The facts speak for themselves."

CHANGING PROCESS

Lingle cited the lack of accountability over teacher furloughs as an example of why she will propose a constitutional amendment next session to make the Department of Education a cabinet-level department under the governor's control.

"I think cutting instructional time is not the direction anyone who cares about education would want to be going in," Lingle said Friday. "And that's why we've encouraged the Department of Education and the board to find some alternatives."

Schools have the option of requesting exemptions from the school board to increase classroom instruction time or to convert waiver and planning days into instruction time, which could lessen the impact of furloughs.

Some state lawmakers have also been frustrated privately that the teachers' union voted overwhelmingly to ratify the contract with furloughs, yet now appears to be distancing teachers from the decision.

Some educators have said teacher furlough days could be reduced if lawmakers provide additional money to restore classroom instruction.

State House and Senate leaders, however, said they will likely consider education spending next session in the larger context of the state's estimated $1 billion budget deficit through June 2011.