Hawaii's Department of Education has one big problem. Maintaining control over Hawaii's $1.9 billion educational budget. It is that simple. Control of that budget cannot slip from its greedy grasp if it expects to continue needless programs, busy work and a tragic, debilitating campaign of turning good teachers into mediocre bureaucrats. Decades of incompetent management, deliberate wasteful spending, favoritism, lack of accountability and, most important, atrocious substandard scholastic achievement must continue. The Board of Education must remain isolated from the community it serves and where accountability is demanded. This system of rewarding failure must survive.
Hawaii's school superintendent recently reported that the system is "obsolete" and "failing" Hawaii's school children. What about the parents? The DOE’s new objective is to prohibit parents and grandparents from voting on de-centralizing the DOE. and establishing local school boards this election year. Do not let it succeed. Insist upon your elected officials doing their jobs of representing you, your children, your families. It is time to stop stunting our children's futures and to begin giving them hope ... hope for a bright, confident and prosperous future. It is time to allow teachers to teach, bring discipline back into the classroom and reward achievement.
John Hoff is a resident of Koloa, Hawaii, and can be reached via email at: mailto:alohapax@geetech.net
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