• Schools situation Schools situation By Biff Whiting I told you so! Throughout 2002 there were many stories in the media about Hawai‘i’s public school students scoring near the bottom in national tests. In October of 2002 Kauai School Superintendent
• Schools situation
Schools situation
By Biff Whiting
I told you so! Throughout 2002 there were many stories in the media about Hawai‘i’s public school students scoring near the bottom in national tests. In October of 2002 Kauai School Superintendent Daniel Hamada wrote a letter to TGI, titled “Failing Schools a Misnomer.” They are not failing schools, he said, they are “schools that did not meet all of their set targets.” He advised we not “discourage educators with disparaging remarks like failing.” I replied with a letter calling his defense of our obviously failing schools “psychobabble” and charged that his refusal to recognize failure and take responsibility would only compound the problem and put the solution off until another day.
Fast forward to January 28, 2004. On that day State of Hawai‘i Superintendent of Schools Patricia Hamamoto presented a “State of Public Education,” address to a joint session of the Hawaiian legislature. This was the first education address ever delivered—and with good reason because she dropped a bombshell. She confessed that: “Hawai‘i’s public education is simply not working. It is in fact obsolete. We are FAILING (emphasis mine) the next generation.” There you have it, Mr. Hamada, straight from your boss, our schools are failing. Finally, after decades of psychotic denial, and growing criticism, the educational bureaucracy realized it could no longer whitewash its continual failure and retain even a modicum of credibility with the public. Now that we all agree Hawai‘i’s schools are failing, where do we go from here?
The first step in healing is to admit the truth. I applaud Ms. Hamamoto for doing just that. The second step is to take appropriate action. But how can we determine what offers the best chance for improving the performance of Hawai‘i’s schools? Is education so complicated as to be beyond the grasp of ordinary citizens and must be reserved for so called “experts?” No! It’s quite easy to reach an objective judgment. All one need do is look at the facts. 1. The United States is composed of fifty states. 2. Forty-nine of the fifty states have a decentralized system of school governance, i.e., locally elected school boards. Hawai‘i is the lone exception, having a centralized state school board, making “one-size-fits-all” educational decisions. 3. Hawai‘i ranks near the top in dollars spent per student. 4. Hawai‘i ranks near the bottom in results obtained per student.
What conclusions can be drawn from these facts? Either A) The decentralized system of school governance offers the best chance for superior results; or B) The centralized system offers the best chance for superior results, but some mysterious factors keep preventing these results from being obtained.
The objective mind will select A. Unfortunately, after taking the first step in the healing process, recognizing the truth of the failure, Ms. Hamamoto does not take the second step, appropriate action. Amazingly the Superintendent of Hawai‘i’s Department of Education selects option B and details several initiatives to correct the mysterious factors adversely affecting centralized school governance and holding back student performance. Why would anyone make such a questionable choice? Look no further than those dirty words, “political self-interest.” The Superintendent tipped her hand when she said to the state legislature, “governance (of public schools) is a POLITICAL DECISION to be made by YOU.” Shame on you, Madam Superintendent. The education of Hawai‘i’s students must be beyond politics. Your words, “political decision to be made by you,” made the intent of your “State of Public Education” address very transparent. You, a powerful Democrat, were invited by the Democratically controlled legislature in order to counter Republican Governor Linda Lingle’s State of the State address in which she proposed that a state constitutional amendment to eliminate the statewide Board of Education and replace it with locally elected school boards be put on the November general election ballot.
The Democrats, who control the state legislature, the DOE, the centralized State Board of Education, and the teachers unions, have put their political self-interest above what the facts show is in the best interests of Hawai‘i’s students, a change in governance to locally elected school boards. Confirming this suspicion, every elected legislator from Kauai, Representatives Kawakami, Morita, Kanoho, and Senator Hooser, Democrats all, stood lock-step with their Democratic Party bosses in opposition to allowing the citizens of Hawai‘i to vote, yes or no, on changing to local governance of schools.
Sometimes an issue arises that is too important to be left to the whims of politicians. The future of public education in Hawai‘i is such an issue. If the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i refuses to authorize a vote of the people on the issue of school governance, it will be as repugnant and shameful as when this same Democratic Party in the post Civil War era tried to keep the newly emancipated African-American slaves from exercising their voting rights.
I challenge Kauai Democrats Hooser, Kawakami, Kanoho, and Morita to answer these questions. Why in the face of all the evidence that local school boards produce superior educational results are they opposed to them for Hawai‘i? And, more importantly, why are they opposed to allowing the citizens of Hawai‘i to vote their preference on this issue which affects them so deeply?
If the Democratic Party will not trust the judgment of the voters on the issue of school governance by putting the measure on the November ballot, the people should withdraw their trust in them and vote them out of office on that very same November ballot.
Every voter, especially every voter with children, should contact their Democratic legislators and demand, yes, demand, to be given a voice in the most important issue facing parents today, the education of their children.
Biff Whiting is a resident of Kalaheo
