Thursday, November 21, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Fighting for Details on How Hawaii DoE Spends $2 Billion
By Selected News Articles @ 7:05 PM :: 4601 Views :: Education K-12, Labor

He's Fighting for Details on How Hawaii Spent $2 Billion on Its Schools

EdWeek July 23, 2019 (excerpt)

PDF: Complaint filed July 11, 2019

 … it's highly unusual for a former state department official to push fiscal transparency issues into the courts.

Hawaii, a unitary, statewide school system that includes several charter schools, has for years been enmeshed in school funding battles. Politicians and teachers have complained about desperate conditions caused by years of budget cuts, including a rolling teacher shortage, dilapidated schools, and lagging academic outcomes. An effort by the state's teachers union last year to implement the state's first-ever property tax failed after the state's court called the language confusing.

Hawaii also is among several states with antiquated data systems that can't track the thousands of transactions school districts make throughout the school year. Department officials are blaming those data systems for high-profile glitches that have occurred this year as state legislatures seek to boost teacher pay and states look to comply with a new federal  requirement to break out school spending amounts. 

"To have any sense of empowerment, you have to have an idea of fiscal health of the department," said L'Heureux, who formerly served as the department's assistant superintendent for school facilities and support services. He unsuccessfully ran for governor last year.…

Earlier this month, the department's chief financial officer, Amy Kunz resigned to take a job with the University of Hawaii system. She was the second department assistant superintendent to resign this summer. 

In an editorial published in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser earlier this year, Kunz, who previously served on the PTA at her son's school, said she came to work for the department to "fix the system."

Kunz pointed out the state's clean audits, and listed the many ways the state provides for public accountability over its school spending including school community councils, a "committee on weights" that oversees the state's funding formula, and the state's board of education, which approves the department's budget.

"So what's the problem?" she asked. "The problem is the data we provide is based on an accounting system that is more than two decades out of use, with program categories that can't be easily updated or cycled out of the system because of downstream impacts to schools' cash flow and budgeting that can last years. No amount of transparency about our numbers can fix the flaws in the underlying system. A $2 billion enterprise, with loads of complexities, requires an industry-standard Financial Management System." …

read … He's Fighting for Details on How Hawaii Spent $2 Billion on Its Schools

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