Charter schools

Representative Lynn Finnegan, Minority Leader in the Hawaii State House of Representative responds to the budget cuts by the democrats in HB2500 the State budget for operating and CIP appropriations FY 2009. Here is an excerpt from Capitol TV.


When the Governor sent down HB 2500 prior to the beginning of this session, it built on her vision for the future of Hawaii. Last year, the Governor articulated a bold vision for the future of Hawaii, a vision of innovation. She called for basing our economy on our most plentiful resource, our brains, our innovation. She also called for bringing an end to the problem of homelessness. She called for bringing opportunity to those most in need, thorough employment opportunities as well as relief from the high cost of living. Each innovative idea was funded through HB 2500.

Through the process, there were areas of common ground. The limited advances for renewable energy, whether we talk about clotheslines or allowing solar energy farming on agricultural lands, is all well and good. Funding incentives for important agricultural lands, an issue the legislature really hasn't moved on since the 1978 Constitutional Convention, is also a nice item.

But the collaboration and desire to chart the future for Hawaii that was somewhat evident last year is absent this year. The choices made in this budget turn away from innovation, turn away from investment in our people.

At the end of the day, this budget is more about a repudiation of investing in our people, personal choice, and personal responsibility.

A lot was made in the past couple of weeks about the issue of funding charter schools. In the local papers and in the Conference Committee Report, great pains are made to describe a chronology of events, who said what, what was and wasn't given, etc . . .

Charter schools represent an innovative means of educating students that might otherwise struggle in mainstream settings. Charter schools allow students to explore educational horizons otherwise unavailable in mainstream settings. Charter schools work, and deserve to be fairly funded. And although Conference Draft 1 of the budget increases EDN 600 by over $6 million, increases in prospective enrollment will actually result in a lower per pupil allocation moving forward.

The bottom line is this. We can talk around the controversy surrounding the funding formula in chapter 302B-12, but if we are really serious about moving forward on this innovative and successful education option, if we want to avoid the situation of the past couple of weeks, fix chapter 302B-12. It will save us some budget headaches down the road.

Here is an excerpt from Capitol TV.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Charter
• Schools
• Hawaii
• Lynn
• Finnegan
• Budget
• cuts