Hawaii Reporter: Hawaii Reporter

Thirty House Democrats Who Voted Against Education Reform
They Say They Don’t Want the People to Decide Through a Constitutional Amendment on the 2004 Ballot Whether to Decentralize Hawaii’s Near Worst-in-the-Nation Public Education System
By Malia Zimmerman, 2/24/2004 1:21:08 AM

Predictably, just before midnight on Friday, when House of Representative members were in session passing more than 100 bills in time for an internal House deadline, the majority of House Democrats killed the governor’s education reform bill, HB 2332, by a vote of 30 to 20.

The governor is seeking to let the public decide through a constitutional amendment in 2004 whether it wants to decentralize the state's public education system and break up the state Board of Education into at least seven elected school boards so there is more local control of issues and money. She also proposes implementing a weighted student formula, which allows the money to follow the student into the classroom. Currently, around 49 cents of every dollar makes it into the classroom -- with the weighted student formula, the governor hopes to direct at least 90 cents into the classroom (the Department disputes these figures, which were compiled through independent studies). Hawaii has the only centralized public school system in the nation, with one Department of Education and one elected school board, and students rank near or at the bottom in virtually every key category, such as reading and math scores and drop out rates.

Six Democrats voted with the 14 Republicans in favor of letting people vote on the issue -- Rep. David Pendleton, R-Kailua, was absent for the vote. Those voting in favor include Democrat Reps. Felipe Abinsay, Cindy Evans (education committee co-chair), Helene Hale, Michael Magaoay, Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo and Tommy Waters. Republican Representatives supported the governor’s reform plans including Reps. Brian Blundell, Kika Bukoski, Corrine Ching, Lynn Finnegan, Galen Fox, Chris Halford, Mark Jernigan, Bertha Leong, Barbara Marumoto, Colleen Meyer, Mark Moses, Guy Ontai, William Stonebraker and Cynthia Thielen.

While the majority party representatives who voted against the governor’s bill continue to maintain they did so "for the children," they advanced their own bill for education reform: HB 2002 HD1, which has its own hearing this Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004, at 2 p.m. in room 308.(Persons wishing to testify on the Democrats’ bill are requested to submit 35 copies of their testimony at least 24 hours prior to hearing to: (1) Room 306, State Capitol, or (2) the House Sgt.-At-Arms Testimony drop off box in the turnaround area of the Capitol basement parking lot. Testimony may be faxed to the House Sgt.-At-Arms office at: 586-6501 (Oahu) or 1-800-535-3859 (Neighbor Islands). When faxing, please indicate to whom the testimony is being submitted, the date and time of the hearing, and the required number of copies that is needed for submittal).

The only problem is some portions of the bill set up advisory groups, commissions and boards and call for more studies, while making essentially no progress in terms of accountability for the money spent and more local control.

In addition, critics say other parts of the bill are dangerous, because they eliminate all oversight and accountability over the Department of Education and Board of Education and allow the Department to procure contracts secretly and without abiding by Hawaii’s procurement laws.

Most outspoken against the governor’s plan included Rep. Dennis Arakaki, D-Kalihi; Rep. Kirk Caldwell, D-Manoa; Rep. Marcus R. Oshiro, D-Wahiawa; Rep. Scott Saiki, D-Kaimuki; Rep. K. Mark Takai, D-Pearl City; and House Education Chair Roy Takumi, D-Pearl City.

For the full story, see: "House Kills Governor's Education Reform Bill, Passes 'Deformed Reform' Legislation"

Gov. Linda Lingle, who says she will now turn her efforts to the state Senate for support of her education initiatives, is asking the public’s help in contacting lawmakers. She is hoping to push through a chance for the people to decide in the 2004 election whether their public education system should be decentralized and whether there should be at least seven locally elected school boards, rather than one board with 17 members.

What follows is the complete list of state Representatives who voted "no" on Gov. Lingle’s "Local Voice, Local Control Act of 2004," thereby substantially weakening any chance for true reform to pass this session. A full list of lawmakers and contact information can be found at: "Senators at a Glance" and "Representatives at a Glance"