Education officials remained tight-lipped on details of a tentative agreement with the state teachers union to reduce furlough days for public school teachers.

Negotiators from the Department of Education and the Board of Education reached the agreement with the Hawaii State Teachers Association yesterday morning.

The deal needs the approval of HSTA's 30-member board and the full Board of Education. It also will require action from the state Legislature, which would need the approval of Gov. Linda Lingle. Neither lawmakers nor the governor were briefed on details of the plan yesterday and couldn't say if they will go along with it.

The furloughs, put in place to help balance the state budget, began in October and closed Hawai'i public schools for seven Fridays this year. Lingle said last month she wanted to cancel the remaining 27 furlough days and was willing to use $50 million from the state's rainy-day fund to do it.

HSTA President Wil Okabe said the agreement reached yesterday would restore some of the furlough days, but he would not say how many.

Okabe also said the agreement would return children to the classroom "safely," a hint to the union's concerns about Lingle's original plan, which would have only paid for "essential" teachers to return and not additional workers, such as school nurses.

Okabe also hinted that the agreement would not leave the public school system in a financial hole. Last week, the union expressed concerns that the governor's plan to restore furlough days would have resulted in a $19 million budget shortfall for the Department of Education.

"The governor's plan would have undermined the quality of education and jeopardized the health and safety of Hawai'i's children. That's why we were opposed to it," Okabe said in an online forum on The Advertiser's Web site.

The agreement will not require a vote by teachers, because it does not amend the main teachers' contract. It will require approval from the state Legislature for the funding. Lingle won't need to sign the agreement, union officials said, but she will have to approve whatever Legislative action is eventually taken.

Senate President Colleen Hanabusa said it remains unclear how many furlough days will get restored and how much money the state Legislature will be asked to set aside. Hanabusa said she will be briefed Monday by state Board of Education Chairman Garrett Toguchi.

"At this point we are not quite sure what is being asked of the Legislature," Hanabusa said. "The other unanswerable in this is the governor and how she will feel about whatever that agreement is. If the governor doesn't like the deal, she could veto the bill, she could restrict money."

Hanabusa said she would need to know the details of the plan before answering whether a special session of the state Legislature is necessary. A special session would need to occur before the opening of the regular session on Jan. 20.

IMPENDING DEADLINE

DOE and BOE negotiators worked hastily with HSTA toward an end-of-December deadline, which was important for state lawmakers. Legislative leadership had said they would be willing to return in a special session to appropriate $50 million from the state's rainy-day fund only if an agreement was reached.

Lingle proposed on Nov. 15 using the rainy-day funds to restore teacher salaries for 12 days, and then require teachers to swap their planning days for instructional days to restore 15 additional furlough days. Lingle's negotiating team had been adamant that all remaining 27 furlough days in the teachers' two-year contract get restored.

Russell Pang, spokesman for the governor, said the administration attempted unsuccessfully yesterday to get details from the state Board of Education and state Department of Education about the agreement.

"We don't know what the tentative agreement entails, so it is difficult to say what might be required" from the governor or the Legislature, Pang said.

BOE Chairman Toguchi said more details about the plan will be released once it is fully fleshed out and approved.

"The Board and the HSTA must now vet the tentative agreement, which would bring us a step closer toward meeting our No. 1 priority to reduce furlough days. Hopefully we will be able to make a formal announcement by next week," he said in a written statement.

Both sides last week were unable to agree how to restore furlough days, mainly because union and Department of Education officials say they are worried that Lingle's plan, by their tally, was $19.3 million short of what it would cost to restore 27 furlough days. That's even if teachers were to swap their planning days without additional pay, as the governor has suggested.

Officials fear restoring furlough days, and the $19 million shortage, would result in layoffs of 2,500 full-time employees, an increase in class sizes and loss of programs.

The teachers' union has also expressed concern about giving up the roughly 10 yearly planning days.