State Sen. Gary Hooser, D-Kaua‘i-Ni‘ihau, and Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, have sparred more than agreed on a number of issues since they were elected to state offices. Hooser, though, said yesterday he is heartened to hear some of Lingle’s priorities
State Sen. Gary Hooser, D-Kaua‘i-Ni‘ihau, and Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, have sparred more than agreed on a number of issues since they were elected to state offices.
Hooser, though, said yesterday he is heartened to hear some of Lingle’s priorities mirror some of his own, specifically affordable housing, early-childhood education, autonomy for the University of Hawai‘i, and traffic solutions.
He said he was a bit disappointed, though, to not here more gubernatorial priority put on a request from leaders from the state Department of Education to reduce classroom sizes in grades three, four and five.
Hooser said he will sponsor legislation to lower classroom sizes to around 20 students per teacher in grades three, four and five in Hawai‘i public schools. Currently, kindergarten, first- and second-grade classes in Hawai‘i public schools are around 20 students per teacher.
On the whole, though, Hooser said he agrees with a lot of the initiatives Lingle has proposed, especially in the area of affordable housing.
“So, that’s hopeful that we can make significant progress in that area,” he said of affordable housing.
“I was happy to see that,” Hooser said of Lingle’s initiative to improve early-childhood education in Hawai‘i, but “disappointed” to not hear more on planned improvements of the “core” public-school education area of grades kindergarten through 12.
Hooser and many others who live in East Kaua‘i were happy to hear Lingle make traffic and transportation fixes a priority this session. Hopefully, that can mean that the long-awaited Kapa‘a bypass road, which at the present might not materialize until the second decade of the new century, might be moved up the state’s priority list.
“Because it’s not about money. It’s about priorities,” Hooser said. He said he met with state Department of Transportation Highways Division leaders to see if he could request additional funding for the Kapa‘a bypass road.
DOT-Highways officials said they had enough money, Hooser said. It is now a matter of making the new road a high administrative priority, he explained.
“They have to make it a priority, and they have to move it forward administratively,” Hooser concluded.
Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
