Several members of the Hawaii State Legislature have asked what portion of the total Department of Education budget is being included when we speak of 90 percent being allocated to principals to expend on their individual school operations. In other words, 90 percent of what?
The governor is proposing that a minimum of 90 percent of the total operations budget be controlled by the principals, to be expended on their school operations. This includes:
- State allocations for operations,
- Federal allocations for operations, and
- Most, and possibly all, of the allocations to "other state agencies" for the benefit of public education.
CIP and debt service are not included in the equation when calculating the 90 percent figure.
The 90 Percent Figure
The 90 percent is the minimum figure. Currently Edmonton Public School District allocates approximately 92 percent of its district operating budget to principals to expend on school operations.
Mike Strembitsky has consulted with dozens of public school districts in the United States on this very matter, including Houston and Seattle. Indeed he is currently working closely with the public school districts in San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles on decentralized decision-making and accountability. According to Mr. Strembitsky, 90 percent of the operating budget is achievable, responsible and the minimum percentage necessary to generate real, systemic reform.
In his 20 years of consulting with dozens of public school districts in the United States Mr. Strembitsky has never seen a situation where less than 90 percent of the total operating budget can be controlled at the school level. Mr. Strembitsky has been closely involved with education reform in Hawaii for over five months, has been available to people in the BOE, DOE and legislature, and has met with many professional educators at the school, district and state DOE level. In all this time, Mr. Strembitsky has consistently stated he has seen no evidence or impediment that would prevent the allocation of a minimum of 90 percent of the total operating budget to the principals to expend on school operations.
Federal Allocations
As I mentioned in an earlier letter, federal dollars would not be allocated via the WSF system to avoid the potential complication of co-mingling funds. In addition, federal funds often cannot be allocated in a lump sum because they are provided for specific purposes, such as teacher qualifications.
The administration recommends that principals be allocated a minimum of 90 percent of federal funds, to be expended in accordance with federal requirements, on school operations. In many cases the allocations of federal funds to principals will exceed the 90 percent minimum, since most of these funds are designated for school-level operations and may not be used for administrative expenses.
Other State Agencies
Approximately 2.9 percent of the total state allocations for education are controlled by "other state agencies." The governor’s bill provides that a transition team will determine which of these "other state agencies" functions shall be transferred to the education system.
The majority of these "other state agency" funds are the ongoing operations, repair and maintenance expense funds -- non-CIP funds -- controlled by DAGS.
The State Comptroller, Russ Saito, has testified numerous times that DAGS is prepared to separate these ongoing repair and maintenance, non CIP funds, and transfer them to the local districts. The Administration supports principals controlling the funds for ongoing repair and maintenance, non-CIP funds.
Accordingly, the majority of these "other state agency" funds will be included in the education operating budget and allocated to the principals.
The remaining amount of the "other state agencies funds" is a small percentage of the overall education budget, a fraction of the 2.9 percent. Those funds may have one of four things happen depending on the recommendation of the transition team:
- The funds and functions are transferred to the district and included in the up to 10 percent central operating budget;
- The funds and functions are transferred to the district and included in the minimum of 90 percent operating budget allocated to the principals for expending on school operations;
- The funds are transferred to the principals as part of their 90 percent allocation, and they purchase the functions from the "other state agencies" and/or outside vendors; or
- The funds and functions remain with the other state agencies.
Please keep in mind these remaining "other state agency" funds are a very small amount, compared to the over $1.5 billion dollars of state and federal appropriations for DOE operations.
Timing of Implementation
Edmonton did not allocate a minimum of 90 percent of the operating budget to principals on day one. However, Edmonton was the pioneer that blazed the trail for others to follow. As you know, Mike Strembitsky, Karen Beaton and Angus McBeath have all said they see no reason why Hawaii could not fully implement such a system in a relatively short period of time. Strembitsky and Beaton suggested one year, two at most, to implement the 90 percent minimum. McBeath did not suggest a specific period of time.
Laura H. Thielen is a member of the Hawaii State Board of Education, Windward District and a CARE Committee member. She can be reached via email at: mailto:laura@laurathielen.com
HawaiiReporter.com reports the real news, and prints all editorials submitted, even if they do not represent the viewpoint of the editors, as long as they are written clearly. Send editorials to mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com