December 8, 2009 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

December 8, 2009 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 11:54 AM :: 9572 Views

Lingle renews push to revamp schools

If the superintendent were under the direction of the governor, there would be a clear chain of command, she said....

The governor said she would introduce legislation next year to give charter schools financial parity with other public schools.

Lingle said if the Legislature appropriated a specific amount of money for each student, the money should follow the student no matter if it were to a traditional school or a charter school.

(Democrat Borreca ends with...) "In the past, Lingle has failed to find backing for her proposal to split the statewide school board into smaller panels." But that is not one of the proposals being advanced today. So including this in the article is just an attempt to tie today's proposals to yesterday's defeats.

Lingle sets priorities for last 12 months

Hawaii's teacher furlough crisis can be (political) opportunity, federal official says (Still campaigning with the hippie from Buffalo)

"Don't ever waste a good crisis," Peter Cunningham, assistant secretary for communications and outreach at the U.S. Department of Education, said in an afternoon talk with parents in a Hawai'i Medical Service Association conference room.

After months, the Obama admin figures out what Hawai`i Free Press readers have known since JULY 8: Furloughs vs Layoffs: The union no-solution strategy

ADV: Dysfunctional labor talks will harm public

Finally, United Public Workers' Unit 10, made up of public-safety workers who cannot strike, is due in the next few days to hear a preliminary decision on binding arbitration, with a final ruling due Dec. 28.

But the contract for the rest of the union is hung up for another reason: The counties won't sign on to a final offer the Lingle administration wants to make. Without their votes, no deal can be struck for even the state-employed UPW members.

CHAOS >>> exactly as predicted: Furloughs vs Layoffs: The union no-solution strategy

Lingle: Charting our course in the final stretch

My approach remains the same as it was in 2002: Simply stated, state government must live within its means, just as families find ways to live within their household budgets.

Despite the financial turmoil that has deeply affected Hawai'i and most parts of the world, I remain optimistic about what we can accomplish during 2010. To that end, my administration is putting the final touches on an outstanding package of legislative bills that we will submit on Jan. 25, 2010, to the House and Senate.

Our priorities include: stimulating the economy and creating jobs; reforming our public education system; developing clean energy sources while achieving energy security; modernizing our transportation infrastructure; protecting the environment; and creating brighter futures for our students through scholastic robotics and other STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education programs.

These proposals are connected by the common theme of developing innovative ways for Hawai'i to progress in our ever-changing world, and prosper in the years ahead.

As these far-reaching proposals make their way through the legislative process, I will call on our residents and businesses to come forward and voice their support. Public involvement is critical to the workings of government, and is especially important when funds are in short supply.

Shapiro: Let the ~~competence~~ Lingle-bashing begin

With the HSTA refusing to allow furloughs to be renegotiated, Democrat Shapiro does his best to try to turn the finger of blame back towards Lingle. Tellingly, he can't come up with much material to use against her.

Koller: Changes would keep child care subsidies

To be clear, DHS is not tightening eligibility for subsidies nor cutting the budget. In fact, the state increased the budget by $8.5 million over last year, bringing the total to nearly $66 million.

The problem is, the $66 million is being used faster than expected due to a sharp increase in applications and higher rates charged by child care providers.

DHS believes the fairest solution is giving the neediest families the largest subsidies and the highest-income families the smallest. That way, no one loses benefits entirely.

SB: Don't blame escape on budget

Budget cuts may be a factor in the recent escape, but they are not the sole cause, and should not become the default excuse for preventable security failures.

As concerned members of the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board have noted in the past, individuals sent to the State Hospital rather than to jail are deemed patients, not prisoners. But that distinction makes them no less a threat to public safety once they unlawfully leave the grounds.

Maybe he was just looking for a job ... Child molester back at work at Hawaii Legislature

Kalapa: Still Waiting for a Better Response to Hawaii's State Worker Furlough Fridays

Well, it seems elected officials have found a way to get the screaming parents and the chanting students off their backs by dipping into the state’s “rainy day” fund as a way to restore “Furlough Fridays” and put students and teachers back into the classroom. But is it such a good idea?

It is a politically good idea from the standpoint that it takes the heat off the governor and the legislature coming from parents and educators. It is not a good idea from a financial standpoint because it is a one-time solution and as we have subsequently seen, others (HGEA) would also like to be bailed-out, like health and human services providers....

Plan for Mauna Kea summit draws little interest (forget the details, just send us the $50M)

But an hour or so into the three-hour meeting, only four or five people had stopped by to look at the proposals....

PLAN: http://www.malamamaunakea.org

Kauai County Ethics Board searching for clarity

LIHU‘E — With the county Board of Ethics set to meet Thursday for the final time in 2009, the ongoing struggle to define and enforce the controversial Charter section that bars county officials from appearing on behalf of private interests before other county agencies continues unabated....

Burris: New B&B law rewards the unlicensed

One of the bizarre aspects of this bill, due for a full Council hearing on Dec. 16, is that it would retroactively offer licenses to B&Bs operating illegally today. That's the same approach taken back in 1989, when virtually all the licenses were snapped up by people already in operation.

Birth information request clarified (wanted to leave race blank)

Did State try to force parents to list a "race" for their child?

Why this is important: Antonio Gramsci Reading List