The state Senate has formed a special committee to examine options to restore classroom instruction time lost to teacher furloughs.

The committee, which will be led by state Sen. Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Mänoa, McCully), and state Sen. Will Espero, D-20th (`Ewa Beach, Waipahu), will hold public meetings on the different approaches to ending teacher furloughs. The committee will also decide whether to recommend a special session.
State House and Senate have said there are no plans for a special session, but Espero has gathered signatures from 14 senators calling for a special session to consider using the hurricane relief fund to restore classroom instruction time.
The state and the Hawai’i State Teachers Association agreed to a two-year contract in September that called for 17 furlough days a year for teachers on 10-month schedules and 21 furlough days a year for teachers on 12-month schedules.
“I am proud that my colleagues are stepping up with a battery of ideas to solve the teacher furlough problem,” Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nänäkuli, Mäkaha), said in a statement, “but every option raises questions. We need to look at not only whether money is available, but how we can ensure that any money we appropriate gets released by the governor and goes to education. We also need to answer some fundamental questions about whether any action we take will interfere with a collectively bargained agreement between the state, the (Department of Education), and the teachers’ union. The right to collective bargaining is guaranteed in our state constitution, so this is a significant concern.”
“The worst thing we can do is build false hopes. We need to act responsibly. This is a complicated situation and a lot of different parties will have to come together to work out a solution. But this committee will get the ball rolling.”
Gov. Linda Lingle has said she has no plans to call lawmakers into special session on the budget deficit. Two-thirds’ petitions by the House and Senate are required for lawmakers to call themselves into special session. A petition in the House has 16 signatures so far.
“The loss of 17 classroom days is unacceptable and embarrassing,” Espero said in a statement. “We have a responsibility to take action and address the situation for the sake of our children, and I believe we have the means to do so.”