This blog was created (quickly) to organize concerned Public School Parents to advocate for Public School Teachers and Students in Hawaii.
There are four reasons for this blog:
1. Class time is critical to the educational and social development of students.
2. Public School Teachers in Hawai'i were placed in an terrible position politically and voted to take a pay cut.
3. 35.00 per student will be taken from the Weighted Student Formula, dollars allocated for the education of students in Hawai'i.
4. This is not acceptable.
"How can you do this to our children?"
Parents of public school students were entirely left out of this process and dialogue.
Fellow parent, I thought you might find this interesting:
ReplyDeletePRESS RELEASE: Hawaii TEA Party Offers to Coordinate Statewide Volunteers, Raise Funds and Contract Furloughed Teachers To Keep Hawaii Schools Open
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2009
Contact: Hawaii TEA Party, Inc. www.hawaiiteaparty.org, (808) 281-3508, marc.ingenuity@gmail.com
Declining global and Hawaii economies have resulted in a budget shortfall for Hawaii State government. The Hawaii State Department of Education (DoE), arguably the nation’s most centralized and top-heavy public school system with one of the lowest-performing student records nationwide, was ordered to cut its budget accordingly.
Last week, the DoE, the Hawaii State Teachers Association, and the Hawaii Government Employees Association worked together to avoid cutting the DoE’s massive central bureaucracy by furloughing all frontline classroom teachers in Hawaii’s public schools for 17 days for each of the next two years.
In response to this failure of big government-union management that places the burden squarely on the shoulders of Hawaii’s students, frontline teachers and working families, Hawaii TEA Party President Marc Hodges stepped up today with a private offer to lessen the impact on the public.
In a letter sent today to Hawaii’s Governor, and the leaders of the State Legislature, the DoE and the relevant unions, Hodges said the Hawaii TEA Party is available to coordinate statewide community volunteer efforts and private fundraising to keep Hawaii schools open and bring furloughed teachers back into the classroom where they belong.
In order to do this, Hodges is asking the state and the unions to waive contract terms and regulations that may prohibit furloughed teachers from returning to work under private contract and to streamline approval processes so community volunteers can be mobilized quickly and effectively.
Hodges said today;
“The decision by big government and union leaders to furlough teachers instead of cutting the top-heavy DoE administration appears to be a cynical attempt to justfiy raising the general excise tax by 1%. Given how much the DoE wastes on administration and overhead, it would be far cheaper for the taxpayers to staff these schools directly.
The big government option has failed. It’s time to dismantle the DoE and move school funds and school control to local communities where the funds can be raised from and accountable to the parents and channeled directly to the teachers.
In the meantime, it looks like the people will have to stand up and solve this furlough problem ourselves.”
I personally would rather not be affiliated with the Tea Party movement mainly because of their outwardly hostile and inflammatory language they use at their rallies.
ReplyDeleteNope, this is a group of concerned parents interested in supporting teachers and students.
Let's make Friday Furloughs "State Capitol Day" and visit Gov. Lingle's office with our children.