The fifth furlough Friday slipped by yesterday with no agreement between the Lingle administration and the Hawaii State Teachers Association on how to end teacher furloughs.

Gov. Linda Lingle said the teachers union should not wait until Dec. 15 to resume private talks with the state on furloughs because the delay could jeopardize action before the end of the year.

The teachers union countered that all members of its negotiating team will not be available until Dec. 15, and also hardened its opposition to giving up teacher planning days.

Lingle has proposed taking $50 million from the state's rainy-day fund and has asked teachers to swap planning days for furlough days to eliminate 27 of 34 furlough days in the teachers' two-year contract with the state.

Negotiators for the state and the teachers union have met privately three times on Lingle's proposal.

Lingle, speaking to reporters at the state Capitol, said her offer stands, indicating that the talks involve whether the teachers will accept the offer, not whether the governor will modify her proposal.

"I see this as an opportunity, not a negotiation," Lingle said. "And I think they need to see it as an opportunity.

"If the goal is to get the children back in the classroom, this was a very fair proposal, I think a generous proposal, and one that they should take."

Wil Okabe, the HSTA's president, who will be traveling to Washington, D.C., next week, said it is the governor who has refused to negotiate.

"The governor and her team have shown no flexibility and have adopted a take-it-or-leave-it approach," he said in a statement. "The HSTA has made viable offers to provide an interim solution but they have all been summarily rejected by the governor. We remain ready to offer more viable options."

HSTA ADDED TO SUIT

Okabe also said the teachers union would not reopen the base contract, which contains the planning days, raising doubt about whether planning days can be part of a deal. The furlough days are contained in a supplemental agreement between the state and the union, which can be amended by written consent of the parties without another ratification vote.

"There will be no reopening of the contract and therefore no second ratification vote," Okabe said. "The governor signed the contract with much fanfare. Only when she saw how angry the public was at the furloughs, which have been her preferred solution to dealing with state labor contracts, did she begin singing a different tune."

Eric Seitz, an attorney who has filed a federal lawsuit challenging teacher furloughs on behalf of students, said yesterday that he would amend his complaint to include the teachers union.

Seitz described the teachers union as the obstacle to reducing furlough days. "At this point, everything is being blocked by the teachers union," he said.

Okabe said Seitz would likely not endorse Lingle's proposal if he knew all of the details.

He said the attorney would likely not back a plan that "forces schools to operate with a skeleton staff, without a full complement of administrators and staff, including health aides, security personnel — as well as educational assistants, occupational therapists and other professional service providers who are required to care for the special needs children whom Mr. Seitz champions."

TIME RUNNING SHORT

Many parents of public school students are frustrated.

Terri LaCoursiere Zucchero, who has three children at Noelani Elementary School and has been active with Save Our Schools, did not want to blame any one party for the delay but is disappointed.

"I'm just frustrated that words like 'negotiation,' 'bargaining' and 'arguing' are being used to describe the education of our kids," she said.

Although both sides have said an agreement is still possible, time is running out.

The state House and Senate have set a deadline of the end of the year to return in special session to authorize use of the rainy day fund to reduce teacher furloughs.

Lawmakers may be flexible about the deadline if it appears there is an agreement, but would likely not want to schedule a special session too close to the next regular session in January.

Two other unions that represent school staff — the Hawai'i Government Employees Association and the United Public Workers — may also need to be involved in any agreement.

Sensing a public-relations problem, the teachers union has launched radio and newspaper advertisements defending the value of planning days. Union leaders have said many teachers are reluctant to give up all of their planning days, which teachers use to prepare for classroom instruction or work on school improvement plans.

CAMPAIGN CRITICIZED

Okabe questioned whether critics such as Seitz expect teachers "to show up in the class without lesson plans or curriculum.

"Would Mr. Seitz give up his trial preparation and just show up in the courtroom? Would he feel that by doing so he was representing his clients to the best of his ability?" Okabe asked.

Lingle ridiculed the ad campaign.

"I think it's ridiculous at this point in the process to be explaining why we won't go back in the class and teach children," the governor said. "The entire community believes this is a fair offer, it's one that the legislators, I think, feel the same way about, and to spend their members' money now running these commercials that's going to bring further ridicule on their members, I think is ridiculous."