HONOLULU, HAWAII --- The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii has released a new policy brief outlining how the Hawaii taxpayer keeps investing more dollars in the public school system while getting diminishing returns. Getting Less for More–Feeding the Government Education System in Hawaii examines the fact that Hawaii spends almost $14,000 per student per year yet consistently ranks near the bottom of scholastic achievement rankings. The brief also finds that one third of high school freshmen do not graduate with a high school diploma.
"The Hawaii taxpayer deserves an explanation as to why we keep putting more and more money into an education system that is expensive, overly bureaucratic, and not producing the results we need," stated Grassroot Institute President Jamie Story. "We again call on the Hawaii Department of Education to embrace full transparency and open its financial checkbook so the community can see how its money is being spent. Perhaps together we can help DOE find a better, more cost effective way to educate our children," she said.
The new brief, which is available free from the Institute's web site, also found that the DOE's budget has increased 150% in just eight years—from $972 million to $2.4 billion—despite declining enrollment. The report goes on to state that the proposed $46 million budget reduction requested recently is a mere 1.9% of the total DOE budget. Getting Less for More was written by Policy Intern Kenny Lee, who is also a student at Hawaii Pacific University majoring in Finance.
Earlier this year, the Grassroot Institute embarked on a new initiative to bring transparency and accountability to Hawaii state and local government, including the Department of Education. The mission of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is to promote individual liberty, free market economic principles and limited, more accountable government. Please visit: HTTP://www.grassrootinstitute.org for more information.
Tom McAuliffe is the Communications Director for GRIH.
