Sunday, November 24, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Affordable Hawaii Coalition: We Will Continue After Victory
By News Release @ 2:31 AM :: 4976 Views :: Education K-12, Taxes

THE AFFORDABLE HAWAIʻI COALITION WILL CONTINUE:  THERE IS MUCH WORK TO BE DONE FOR OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

News Release from Affordable Hawaiʻi Coalition, October 22, 2018 

HONOLULU – The Affordable Hawaiʻi Coalition’s executive committee held its regular weekly meeting this morning to discuss the future of the organization after Friday’s decision by the Hawaii Supreme Court to invalidate a proposed constitutional amendment on the General Election ballot that the coalition opposed. The executive committee voted unanimously to continue its commitment to address issues of concern to the people of Hawaii, starting with public education.

“We are pleased with the unanimous decision by the Hawaii Supreme Court last Friday, because it validated many of our concerns about the vague and potentially confusing nature of the wording on the ballot,” said Stanley Lau, chairman of the Affordable Hawaiʻi Coalition. “During the course of our work against the proposed constitutional amendment, we built a diverse statewide network of people who are committed to finding solutions to some of Hawaii’s perennial problems such as the high cost of living, creating more affordable housing, and improving public education. Our public schools governance structure needs to be transformed so that school level professionals can determine how best to meet the needs of their students. We will work with HSTA, the DOE, elected officials, appropriate not-for-profit organizations, and our coalition members throughout Hawaii to achieve these improvements.”

“Among the reasons why Hawaii’s DOE achieves such poor results is that it lacks systemwide transparency and accountability, which would not be tolerated in any other state. This is a structural problem, not a people problem and it has been a problem for decades. Because transparency and accountability are overused abstractions, we offer an example. Hawaii’s DOE currently describes its annual operating budget as “nearly $2 billion,” but that number is deceptive. It does not include more than a billion dollars in other education expenditures, such as teacher fringe benefits. Before enacting any new taxes, we need to know where this $3 billion is being spent and why our public school students don’t have books and supplies,” said Lau.

“The Chamber represents more than 2,000 member companies and their 250,000 employees,” said Sherry Menor-McNamara, member of the Affordable Hawaiʻi Coalition and president and CEO of Chamber of Commerce Hawaii. “Our advocacy efforts are always member-driven, which is why we worked to ramp up our efforts to inform our members and the business community about the far-reaching implications of this Con Am and strongly opposed this new tax on real property. On behalf of our members and the employees they represent, we will continue to fight for policies that make Hawaii a better place to do business and develop solutions to the most pressing problems facing businesses across the state, including ensuring that we have a public education system that serves our state’s workforce needs.”

“We aren’t taking a break, we are going to begin the next phase of our work immediately,” said Lau. “Many of us have been supporting the public schools for decades in hundreds of different ways, and one of our executive committee members is the chairman of the Public Schools of Hawaii Foundation. We will join other stakeholders in developing a plan of action and we will do our part to improve our public schools.”

---30---

About the Affordable Hawaiʻi Coalition

The Affordable Hawaiʻi Coalition represents a diverse group of people from across the state who are committed to finding solutions to address issues of importance to Hawaii residents, including

the high cost of living, creating more affordable housing opportunities and improving public education. The coalition includes small business owners, education advocates, union members, nonprofit organizations and other citizens. For more information, visit www.affordablehawaii.org

Coverage: 

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii