October 2, 2009 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Friday, October 2, 2009

October 2, 2009 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 1:03 PM :: 8649 Views

Local charter schools split on teacher furloughs

Innovations Public Charter School and West Hawaii Explorations Academy, both in Kailua-Kona, plan to furlough teachers. Waimea Middle Public Conversion School and Kanu o ka Aina, also in Waimea, won't. Administrators at Kona Pacific Public Charter School are still deciding whether furloughs are in their students' futures....

Charter schools received $5,536 per student this year, compared with $7,588 per student the previous year and $8,149 per student in 2007-08. Other public schools receive more than $11,000 per student....

Is the deficit enough to prompt discussions about school closures? (That is, of course, the DoE/HSTA goal.)
"I think the board would have to seriously consider whether it's responsible to open its doors at $4,900 per student," Kotner said.

Charter schools advocate is committed to sustaining educational choice

(A short lesson for the failing DoE...)

QUESTION: The fact that charter schools are not necessarily furloughing teachers, despite facing their own budget cuts, has generated a lot of interest. How are charter schools coping with the economic crisis?

ANSWER: They received a large cut this past legislative session to their per-pupil allocation, and most of the schools looked at how those cuts were going to impact at the school level. So some did, early on, cut back their school budgets and had to lay off staff. ... They were cutting costs early, as of the end of last year. Some of our schools are going to be furloughing to help balance the budget, but others are using carryover money, from being so frugal, to help them get through this year without furloughs.

Q: So in terms of the impact on students, that advance budget planning paid off?

A: Absolutely....

(Of course the Charter Schools have an advantage. They are not obligated to manipulate the budget crisis in order to create maximum chaos for 2010.)

Anti-Furlough Rally in Makawao

Thirty to 40 parents and students waved signs to passing motorists to protest a new state contract with public school teachers that calls for 17 unpaid days off each year for two years. Sign: "Cut spending, not spelling" (Note absence of call for tax increases)

MRC Greenwood: UH ohana doing its best to cope with budget cuts

After quoting McClain's description of the UH budget situation, MRC comes up with this...

"I know our entire ohana believes in these objectives as well, and I urge us all to unify our voices so that we will be persuasive as our state leaders consider how to sustain and grow our university. (In other words, make money fall from the skies and give it to us.)

Speeding case Carlisle slams laser gun ruling

The high court disagreed with the two lower courts and ruled that there was no evidence presented at trial to show that HPD's laser gun testing practices conformed to the manufacturer's operating manual. The arresting officer testified that he was trained by a superior officer and had followed established HPD procedure to test the device.

But the court said that was not sufficient because it was not known if HPD's and the manufacturer's standards are the same. The justices ruled that the evidence from the laser gun should not have been admitted in court and since there was no other proof that Assaye was speeding, the justices overturned the verdict.

Carlisle said the simple solution is that police officers will now have to testify that their training was based on the manufacturer's recommendations. He said he believes this isn't necessary.

"I can't imagine who else would tell you how to use a laser gun other than the person who made it. But we now have to say it was the person who made it who gave them the steps on how to use it," he said. "Who's going to give you procedures to use a laser gun? Somebody from Mars?"

Carlisle said he agreed with the two lower court rulings on the matter and disagreed with the Supreme Court's written opinion.

Tracking Your Taxes: Abercrombie's U.S. Worker Provision on Military Project Could Bleed Taxpayers

Abercrombie says the provision will create well-paid jobs for unemployed construction workers.

His provision, however, adds an estimated $10 billion to the project's price tag, doubling the cost.

Workers would have to be flown in from nearly 4,000 miles away, housed on the island and paid at Hawaii's prevailing wage, more than double that of Guam's.

For example, electricians would get about $40 an hour; on Guam, the average rate is $14 a hour.

Busy U.S. troops help with Asian calamities

In just one day, the U.S. Pacific Command was performing humanitarian missions in the Philippines, American and Western Samoa, and Indonesia.

Filipinos in Hawaii sending money to flood-stricken relatives

WAIPAHU — When Waipahu resident Ariel Daguio learned that his sister's house was among those flooded when Tropical Storm Ketsana hit Metro Manila over the weekend, there was no need to think about it. Like many other Hawai'i residents with family in the Philippines, Daguio made his way to the LBC Mabuhay Hawaii location in Waipahu to wire $100 back home.

Hilo pastor says mother is likely among Samoa Tsunami victims

One of the likely victims is the mother of Sugalu Timoteo, pastor of the 1st Samoan Congregational Christian Church in Hilo.

Damien celebration begins as group heads to Belgium

Almost immediately after Father Damien's death 120 years ago, people around the globe were calling for his elevation to sainthood. Yesterday, 351 Hawai'i residents — some of whom were integral to Damien's canonization cause — left for Belgium for the culmination of more than a century of work to honor the priest with the title "saint."