LIHU‘E — Even if state legislators convene a special session and find funds to avoid closing the state’s public schools on 17 Fridays the rest of this school year, it is up to Gov. Linda Lingle to release the funds
LIHU‘E — Even if state legislators convene a special session and find funds to avoid closing the state’s public schools on 17 Fridays the rest of this school year, it is up to Gov. Linda Lingle to release the funds or not, as she desires, said state Sen. Gary Hooser.
Hooser, D-Kaua‘i-Ni‘ihau, Senate majority leader and an announced candidate for lieutenant governor in next year’s elections, was one of a half-dozen speakers at Friday’s “Flunk Furlough Fridays” rally at the State Office Building in Lihu‘e.
It is “unacceptable” to take 17 instructional days away from public-school children, said Hooser, adding that a special session of the state Legislature would take two or three days and would not cost much money and that there is money in special funds that could be taken and used to eliminate the need for state Department of Education Furlough Fridays.
The cost to run the state public schools is $5 million a day, he said, and the damage done to students with 17 fewer instructional days far outweighs the risk of raiding funds like the state hurricane fund, he said.
“On very many levels, this is not acceptable,” he said of the school furloughs.
Waiting for the regular session of the state Legislature, in January, to act, will be too late to salvage the Fridays in the current school year, and during the regular session there is stiff competition for what all are predicting will be very finite funds, said Hooser.
Whatever avenue is used for funding a potential end of school Furlough Fridays, the key is still Lingle, who must support the legislation and release the funds, Hooser said.
Children aren’t and mustn’t be “high-stakes poker chips,” said Jack Yatsko, one of the Flunk Furlough Fridays organizers, board member of the Kapa‘a Elementary School Parent-Teacher-Student Association, and master of ceremonies for the rally attended by around 75 people, including affected children.
“I say let’s end the blame game and shell game and get to a right answer,” said Yatsko, advocating getting all parties back to the table in a concerted effort to come up with a plan that avoids taking away “vital” instructional days.
It’s “educational neglect” to take away instructional days, especially when parents can be arrested for educational neglect if they allow their children to miss 10 days of school without a valid excuse for missing that much school, Yatsko said.
“If it can be done for Superferry, can it not be done for our children’s education?” Yatsko asked about a special session.
Citizens have a responsibility to make sure elected officials do their jobs, said Larry Fernandes, who has also been active in Kapa‘a PTSA organizations over the years.
Mahina McGarry, 13, an eighth-grader at Kapa‘a Middle School, said most of the students she knows are happy about the three-day weekends, but with just 34 percent of the state’s public schools making adequate yearly progress as mandated by the federal No Children Left Behind law, and low-income families dependent on school breakfasts and lunches for regular meals for their children, the Furlough Fridays are going to be major burdens to low-income families and other problems all around.
Students are worried that homework is going to be piled on with the reduction of instructional days, she said.
Jimmy Trujillo, reading a letter from Mel Rapozo, who was unable to attend the rally, said on his own that it is up to the people to act when they see government irresponsibility.
Trujillo said Rapozo wrote that children are going to have to pay for irresponsibilities in government spending, and that 17 days is over three school weeks, meaning lots of pages that won’t be read, and lots of instructions from teachers that won’t be delivered.
Those who forgot about the children do not deserve to be re-elected, Rapozo said. “God help our children,” said Rapozo, a Kaua‘i High School parent.
Dr. Sarah Styan, an ‘Ele‘ele School parent and member of the ‘Ele‘ele School Community Council, said teachers were struggling before announcement of Furlough Fridays, and that all should appreciate what teachers and administrators do for children.
“Shortchanging the children is a decision we’re all going to pay for dearly down the road,” said Styan.
Appropriate public pressure could be applied to reverse this “bad situation,” said Tom Perry of the Hawai‘i State Teachers Association. “Not one teacher on Kaua‘i wants furloughs,” said Perry, adding that, one day after furlough days were announced for public schools, teachers and administrators promptly canceled waiver and in-service days in order to ensure more classroom time.
At Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School in Puhi, Principal Debra Badua announced there would be no more parent-teacher conferences this school year, in order to ensure more instructional time.
“You are the real power,” Perry said to the crowd, encouraging them to talk to legislators and Lingle. Plan and organize “so we can get rid of these furloughs,” he said.
Grace Yatsko, a fifth-grader at Kapa‘a Elementary School, said she hates furlough days as much as parents do, a feeling not shared by all of her classmates. “We have enough breaks in the school year as it is. Why do we need more?”
“Save our schools; flunk Furlough Fridays,” adults chanted to cars passing on Hardy Street while the rally continued.
More people need to go to the state Legislature in Honolulu with “common-sense reasons against furloughs,” said state Rep. Jimmy Tokioka, D-Lihu‘e-Koloa.
“This is a great show of influence and power to the legislative process. We still don’t believe what’s happening,” said Tokioka, adding that the state deficit, at around $800 million when this year’s legislative session ended in May, has ballooned to over $1 billion today.
“We need to know how you feel,” said Tokioka. “I absolutely don’t want to see this happen. Help us make decisions. … I beg you. I plead with you.”
Christopher Takenaka, a public-school graduate with public-school children, said, “We need to eradicate these furloughs. They’re a nuisance to our society.”
State Rep. Roland Sagum, D-Waimea-Ni‘ihau, said he supports a special session, adding that convening a special session might convince Lingle to release funds for education.
“A special session of the state Legislature is needed to find a long-term funding solution that does not sacrifice instructional days for our youth,” said Tracy Murakami, parent of children attending King Kaumuali‘i Elementary School and Kapa‘a Middle School and an organizer of Friday’s rally.
“Action is needed now,” said Jack Yatsko. “It is unacceptable that Hawai‘i public schools would have the fewest instructional days in the nation if the furlough is implemented.”
