Policy Brief – Education Through the Years
Senator Norman Sakamoto
January 29, 2010
Cost of Education
Budget Process, Funding and the Cost of Education (DOE PowerPoint)
THE P-20 INITIATIVE:
The P-20 Initiative is a statewide effort to strengthen the education pipeline from early childhood education through higher education to improve educational outcomes in Hawaii and prepare students for a lifetime of learning and success.
EARLY EDUCATION INITIATIVES:
JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN– 1/30/08
Children enter Kindergarten eager to learn. School personnel and parents want their children to succeed. Adjusting to present day kindergarten can be a difficult for some children and their families. This adjustment may be even more challenging for young children whose level of development level may not readily match the expectations of school.
DOE; K-12 INITIATIVES:
R&M BACKLOG TO BE $287 MILLION - 9/3/09
Fixing our schools remains a priority and as we continue to push, the backlog of Repair and Maintenance (R&M) projects within our schools is decreasing. This is good news because more schools are getting the necessary repairs to make our schools a safer place for our children and acceptable environments for learning. A few years ago, the R&M backlog was over $800 Million. As of September 2008, the R&M backlog was reported at $361Million. If all funds appropriated for FY2009-2010 are released by the Governor, the total estimated projects that are remaining in the R&M backlog is projected to be $287 Million in September 2009.
Previous write-up: FIXING OUR SCHOOLS March 5, 2006 (Updated July 25, 2007)
FELIX DECREE - 5/21/06
In May 1993, Jennifer Felix, represented by her mother, filed a suit in federal court alleging that the State of Hawaii failed to provide her with adequate mental health services.
WEIGHTED STUDENT FORMULA – 3/5/06
Weighted student formula (WSF) is a key component of the 2004 Reinventing Education Act. Its purpose is to improve the quality of public education in Hawaii by bringing greater equity and fairness to school spending. WSF was not intended to work by itself. In the Reinventing Education Act of 2004 WSF was linked to the decentralization of DOE, giving principals greater autonomy as well as imposing greater accountability..
CHARTER SCHOOL INITIATIVES:
CHARTER SCHOOLS - 5/30/06
Charter schools represent a new approach to public education in Hawaii. A charter school is a public school with its own local school board. It has the flexibility to choose its own curriculum while at the same time is bound by the same academic standards as other public schools.
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII INITIATIVES:
UH BOARD OF REGENTS CANDIDATE ADVISORY COUNCIL 7/24/07
Historically, members of the University of Hawaii (UH) Board of Regents have been appointed by the Governor. However, this longstanding and widespread practice has come under serious questioning.