ASSOCIATED PRESS and TGI STAFF Two days before state lawmakers return to the Capitol to grapple with a $330 million revenue shortfall, Hawaii’s teachers union Monday demanded the state spend more money on education, even if it means increasing taxes.
ASSOCIATED PRESS and TGI STAFF
Two days before state lawmakers return to the Capitol to grapple with a $330 million revenue shortfall, Hawaii’s teachers union Monday demanded the state spend more money on education, even if it means increasing taxes.
One of the choices the Legislature has before it when the 2002 session opens Wednesday is to make up for the shortfall in the $14.6 billion, two-year budget that lawmakers approved last May is to cut state spending by 7 percent in all departments, including public education.
But Karen Ginoza, president of the Hawai’i State Teachers Association, said Monday the state must spend more money on schools, not less.
“Public education is an economic issue,” she said. “A well-educated work force and a well-informed populace are crucial to developing and maintaining a diversified economy.”
HSTA is calling for the state to find more revenue sources for education, including “dedicated increases in taxes” and additional federal funding, Ginoza said.
The union also wants the Legislature to pass an amendment to the state constitution giving the state Board of Education the power to raise money to supplement state funding, which voters would have to approve.
The union also wants the state to make the Department of Education autonomous and to provide incentives, such as low-cost mortgages to attract teachers to Hawai’i.
In addition, $600 million worth of backlogged school building repairs and maintenance must be eliminated, and educational improvements must be made, including wiring all schools for Internet use.
“This is our education agenda, and it signals the end of business-as-usual for Hawaii’s public school teachers,” Ginoza said. “The old ways haven’t worked for Hawaii’s economy and Hawaii’s public school system, and as we begin the second year of the 21st century, we need to realize that the economy and public education are bound together.”
Ginoza said teachers “will no longer go along to get along.” She said they’re tired of “fighting to get what we must have for children to succeed.”
HSTA members staged a 14-day strike last April during a contract dispute with the state.
