The Lingle administration and the Hawaii State Teachers Association may not meet privately again on teacher furloughs until Dec. 15, calling into doubt whether an agreement can be reached by the end of the year.

The timing is important because state House and Senate leaders have set a deadline of this month to return in special session to authorize the use of the state's rainy-day fund to reduce furloughs.

Gov. Linda Lingle has proposed using $50 million from the rainy-day fund and has asked teachers to swap planning days for furlough days to slice 27 of 34 furlough days from the teachers' two-year contract with the state.

The teachers' union would likely have to ratify contract changes that involve planning days, and a ratification vote could be difficult once schools break for the holidays after Dec. 18.

The two sides met privately yesterday but details of the meeting were not publicly disclosed. Sources familiar with the negotiations said the Lingle administration is available to meet again at any time, but the teachers' union has said that all members of its negotiating team are not available until Dec. 15.

If lawmakers do not act in special session, teacher furloughs would likely be taken up in a larger debate on the state budget in the next regular session in January.

The state Board of Education, meanwhile, voted last night to approve requests from 84 schools to convert planning days or modify bell schedules to restore some of the classroom instruction time lost to teacher furloughs.

The state school board has previously approved 100 similar requests from schools.

In all, 184 of the state's 256 public schools have obtained exemptions to change school schedules since teacher furloughs started in October.