Any time money is being taken away from Hawai'i's public school system, there is a visceral reaction in the community.

And how could you not feel that pang if you've ever visited a classroom with windows that don't open anymore and doors that don't close properly? Or know a teacher who spends a chunk of her paycheck on school supplies for her students? Or read a disjointed and misspelled letter from a student chosen to write on behalf of the class because they're the best writer?

The situation has taken on the heat and outrage of a political battle. Indeed, Gov. Linda Lingle and Republican lawmakers seem to have been gunning for the DOE establishment from the start. It's as though the current economic crisis provided the grand opportunity for Lingle to use that big sword she's been honing and aiming for the past six years. Lingle and her minions see the DOE as an entrenched bureaucracy where people go to crouch down and wait for their retirement benefits.

And they're right. There's some of that. There's bound to be some of that in any large agency.

But they're wrong, too. That's only a part of the problem in the public schools. Money won't fix the schools, but taking away money isn't the answer either, especially when schools today are expected to go far beyond standard academics into the realms of social work, healthcare, crisis management and psychiatry.

But in these turbulent financial times, when "more money" is not an option, Lingle's political agenda is diluted by the reality of what must happen. It's not a vendetta, it's a necessity. Schools have to get by with less. We all must get by with less. Well, most of us.

What is truly needed in the public schools already exists, but in pockets and unsung efforts. It is the teacher who believes the most valuable teaching resource is the connection with her students. It is the student who wants to better himself through his own efforts and diligence. It is the busy parent who still finds the time to be involved in the recycling drive or the Krispy Kreme sale or the reef walk excursion. It is the retiree who lives on a fixed income but gets a kick out of sending a check for $20 to help one kid get track shoes so he can go to the meet. It happens. It's there.

Our schools need the "no matter what" attitude that carried past generations through hard times to achieve greatness. If you talk to the old-timers about what little they had at McKinley or Kaua'i high or Hamakuapoko, they talk about their austere school days with pride, when what they learned was resilience.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.