Hawaii Real Estate Daily

The state Board of Education passed one of the deepest budget cuts in recent memory after hearing last-ditch pleas to save school programs and positions from the chopping block.

Board members last night struggled to agree on a $46.5 million budget reduction plan that falls well short of the $69 million mandated by Gov. Linda Lingle.

Board Chairwoman Donna Ikeda warned last night that by sending the governor a budget reduction plan short of the mandate that the governor and the state Legislature could cut into the schools.

“If the governor decides to take the ($69 million) cut, the money is coming out of the schools,” Ikeda said.

“That is something I will fight against. It is something that is going to affect all students … and it will be devastating.”

The board voted 11-1 to approve a budget reduction plan that eliminates about 240 state and district positions, including physical therapists to resource teachers to speech pathologists. Included in the cuts was money for athletic supplies and equipment, alternative learning centers and science textbooks.

Following pleas from educators and students, the board also reinstated cuts to several programs for at-risk youth, the Peer Education Program and funding for the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council.

The earliest the cuts could take effect is July 1, 2009.

Before the vote, dozens of educators, students and others expressed discontent with proposed budget cuts that could affect everything from state resource teachers to special education, from public charter schools to high school athletics. It was the second round of such testimony this week.

As board members heard testimony, they asked those who were addressing the board to explain possible adverse impacts of the cut they are concerned about.

But board members made no promises, and said cuts must be made.

“Any cutting that takes place should be as far away from the classroom as possible,” Roger Takabayashi, head of the Hawai’i State Teachers Association, told board members.

While BOE members deliberated on the budget cuts in the McKinley High School auditorium late into the evening, they acknowledged that a decision needed to be made to meet today’s deadline set by Lingle.

Tight schedule

Board members have been working under a tight schedule, meeting in a committee hearing Monday that lasted some 7› hours. That was the first time the BOE had discussed the budget reduction plan that the state Department of Education first released on Sept. 24.

High school students made impassioned pleas to save the Peer Education Program, which operates in about 25 schools across the state.

In the end the board decided against cutting $1 million to eliminate the program, which teaches students to help other students deal with health and social problems. Instead, the board decided to only cut 10 percent of the funding for that program.

Mark Shimabukuro, the peer education coordinator at ‘Aiea High School, said peer education is vital to the health and safety of students. “Unfortunately, today’s kids are making more and more risky choices,” he told BOE members. “The first thing I tell students is this is the most powerful program you will be involved with. I tell them, the choices you make are going to determine the rest of your life.”

Board member Mary Cochran said that the peer education program could still be funded through each school’s individual “weighted student formula” funding. “Cuts have to be made, unfortunately,” Cochran said. “But really, the peer education program is one that should be saved.”

The last time the DOE was asked to reduce its budget was in the mid-1990s when the state faced a $350 million shortfall. In total, the DOE suffered $24 million in cuts.

The proposed cuts make up slightly less than $46.5 million. That’s 15 percent of the DOE’s discretionary budget, but well short of the $69 million in cuts for a worst-case-scenario budget plan that Lingle asked the DOE to create because of the state’s declining tax revenues.

Loss of 244 positions

The DOE budget reduction plan includes cuts of 244 positions in state and district offices, but largely preserves school-level programs and staff.

The cuts are part of a request by Lingle that all state agencies come up with 10 percent, 15 percent and 20 percent budget-cut scenarios for their 2009-11 discretionary budget because the slowing economy has eroded state tax revenue.

The DOE already had cut about $20 million from its budget, including a $10.2 million cut by lawmakers in this year’s Legislature. The BOE recently approved

$9.3 million in budget cuts to meet 4 percent across-the-board reductions imposed by Lingle.

Natasha Chapel, the high school program director of the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, testified in support of the program, which helps about 1,500 students a year. The organization offers a wide spectrum of classes and programs, from those for at-risk youth to students seeking college preparation.

Chapel said if the DOE cuts its roughly $47,000 in funding that the program risks losing an additional $300,000 or so that it receives through private sources.

Included in the budget cuts is some $3 million for teacher recruitment and retention programs. The cut would affect about 36 resource teachers who administer programs such as alternative teacher training, educational assistance and professional development, or who work with special education teachers.

According to the plan, the reduction could greatly hurt the DOE’s ability to comply with the state’s Reinventing Education Act and the state’s ability to meet federal requirements to reduce the number of nonhighly qualified teachers in the classroom.

Special Olympics

Also last night, the board reinstated some $119,000 for Special Olympics funding that had been previously cut from the DOE budget last month.

“This contract provides integral services to our special populations,” said board member Breene Harimoto.

Jasmine Fujiwara, a state resource teacher speaking on behalf of the 36 teachers, warned that the programs would be nearly eliminated.

“We are appalled that 90 — that’s nine-zero — percent of our section is being cut,” Fujiwara said.

“We risk falling out of compliance with both the Felix lawsuit (federal consent decree) and No Child Left Behind.”

The reduction also could hurt the DOE’s ability to coordinate professional development programs to increase student performance in reading, math, science and social studies.

Despite a failed attempt to cut the public school athletics’ budget in August, the DOE plans to cut about $800,000 for athletic equipment, supplies and transportation from the budget. League directors across the state collaborated to figure out areas within the budget that could be trimmed, education officials said.

Also included in the budget reduction plan are:

• About $2 million in science textbooks and learning materials.

• About $643,000 in cuts at nine alternative learning centers across the state, which help to educate at-risk students.

• About $1.6 million for speech pathologists, occupational therapists and physical therapists.

Credits: Honolulu Advertiser

Seafaring commuters from Molokai and Lanai could soon be getting financial support from the county to pay for transportation to Maui, The Maui News reported today.

The County Council Budget and Finance Committee recommended approval Monday of a request to modify the terms of a $182,000 grant to Maui Economic Opportunity Inc. to subsidize commuters from Molokai and Lanai with jobs on Maui.

There are about 25 Molokai workers who ride the Molokai Princess operated by Sea Link of Hawaii to get to jobs on Maui. The number of commuters riding the Lanai ferry had not been confirmed Wednesday, but estimates are as many as 40 people travel on the Expeditions Maui-Lanai ferry on a regular basis for work.

“I am just ecstatic that the county has jumped in,” said David Jung, president of Sea Link of Hawaii. The Molokai ferry has been providing rides for Molokai residents since 1986 when the state initially funded the commuter program.

The state paid as much as $30,000 a month to subsidize as many as 40 Molokai commuters, but in 1996, the state pulled out its financial support. The program was able to continue with employers subsidizing the ferry fares for workers. The cost to commute to and from Molokai by ferry had been $15 a day.

But on June 1, Sea Link increase the fee to $25 per round trip as part of an overall rate increase that includes a fuel surcharge approved by the Public Utilities Commission. Commuters don’t pay the fuel surcharge, which now adds $26 each way. But a general rate increase was part of the request filed by Sea Link.

For a regular rider, a round-trip ferry ride between Maui and Molokai is $132.

For commuters, the county grant would cover $10 of each $25 round-trip fare.

County Transportation Director Don Medeiros said the move to help Molokai commuters with ferry costs is Mayor Charmaine Tavares’ response to residents on the Friendly Isle who signed a petition asking for financial help.

Tavares’ staff has been working to assist Molokai residents who were devastated by massive layoffs with the Molokai Ranch shutdown.

Maui Economic Opportunity Inc. advised the county it did not need $182,000 initially earmarked for transportation costs for dialysis patients on Maui. MEO had won a state grant to cover those expenses and agreed to use the county grant to assist in another venture to help needy citizens.

County officials and MEO representatives worked out a deal that made it cheaper for MEO to administer the commuter program than for the county to operate it.

“If we can help, we should help,” Medeiros said.

He said the county assisting Molokai commuters with transportation costs isn’t any different from the money it pours into bus transportation for commuters on Maui. Last August, there were as many as 270 people using the bus to get to work. That figure has more than doubled with rider records showing approximately 560 commuters a day riding the Maui Bus, a service subsidized by the county.

Employers such as the Westin Maui Resort & Spa initially covered both bus and ferry fees for its workers. But when hotel occupancy rates started plummeting this year, employers had to back out.

Westin Maui Resort & Spa General Manager Craig Anderson testified Monday in support of the county subsidy for commuters. Anderson said his hotel has four employees who have been riding the Molokai Princess for 20 years to get to work.

“They’re not just any four. We believe the four are very valuable employees of our hotel,” Anderson said.

He credited the county administration as well as Council Member Danny Mateo of Molokai and Joe Pontanilla, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, for supporting the initiative.

“I’m thrilled that the county took initiative to look for solutions,” Anderson said.

The budget committee acted on a bill to allow a revision in use of the grant to MEO. It is expected to be placed on the County Council’s meeting agenda for first reading on Oct. 3. A second reading and final approval is expected to follow at a council meeting on Oct. 17.

Following an approval, MEO Executive Director Sandy Baz said, his office would be prepared to work with Sea Link of Hawaii and Expeditions in processing subsidized payments for the commuters.

Credits: Honolulu Advertiser