"Only 70 percent of the budget that principals control now goes to student achievement spending. Right now you have too many masters and there is no clear sense of who is in charge of education. Obviously the superintendent is, but she or he has to answer to a Board of Education, a Legislature and a governor. When you have that type of diffused responsibility you have a situation that is less than accountable." How is the DOE doing? Hawaii is ranked No. 14 on the amount of money spent on each child, yet the latest No Child Left Behind report showed that only three Maui elementary schools can meet the low standards. For grade 4, that means 62 percent can read to the level expected and only 50 percent can do math to the level expected. Grade 10 failed to produce 73 percent reading to the level expected and 34 percent with math skills to the level expected.
In recent rankings of state education systems, Hawaii was No. 42. I am sure it is no coincidence that Hawaii has one of the largest private school systems in the nation per capita.
Our public education system has failed Hawaii's children long enough. The buck-passing needs to stop and the entire governing structure of our education system needs to be reformed.
It is important to note that the Hawaii State Teachers Association has no legal or fiduciary responsibility to protect the students' time in school and they, not parents, negotiated the furloughs with the DOE.
Demand a full audit of the DOE before it is given any budgetary increase.
Ramon K. Madden
Lahaina
