Governor Proposes New Classroom Restoration Plan

Governor Linda Lingle has proposed a new plan to restore 24 out of the remaining 27 furlough days left on the public school schedule.
Under the Governor’s latest plan, up to $50 million from the Rainy Day Fund would be used to restore 12 furlough Fridays – five this semester and seven in the 2010-2011 school year.

An additional 12 instructional days – two this semester and 10 in the next school year – would be gained by using days when teachers are paid to be in their classrooms but do not teach students.

Lingle said, “Our revised plan keeps the focus on putting students back in the classroom for as many days as possible, which remains my highest priority.”

“As I have continued to stress since proposing my original plan, if the overriding issue is educating our children, then we need to move forward on this revised plan immediately in order to ensure students return to the classroom with the least amount of disruption to their schooling,”  said Lingle.

The Governor offered an original plan on November 15 to restore all 27 furlough days from January 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011 by using $50 million in Rainy Day funds to restore 12 furlough days while also converting 15 non-instructional days into classroom teaching days.

Last week, the HSTA, DOE and BOE proposed using $35 million from the Rainy Day Fund to restore five furlough days, and convert two non-instructional days to instructional days.
Lingle-Aiona Administration officials met with BOE Chair Garrett Toguchi and then-DOE Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto last Wednesday to hear details of the HSTA/DOE/BOE proposal.
The latest proposal is being reviewed by the employer group, comprised of members of the DOE staff, two BOE representatives, the Director of the Department of Human Resources Development and a representative from the Governor’s office.

(Posted by Wendy Osher; Supporting Information Provided by the Office of the Governor, State of Hawaii)