Schools struggle with class hours

Lawmakers are again considering tweaking the 2010 law that lengthened Hawaii’s school day and imposed minimum instructional hours at schools.

The law, passed in the wake of teacher Furlough Fridays, requires that all public schools have at least 180 instructional days a year — a requirement the Department of Education says all schools are meeting.

But the learning time requirements in the law have been a challenge in subsequent years, even after lawmakers in 2011 delayed implementation of the law and approved a phased approach.

Most elementary schools are in compliance with the minimum time component, but many middle and high schools are still struggling to reconfigure their schedules to meet next year’s requirement.

Mililani High School Principal Fred Murphy, whose school last week agreed on a schedule to meet the required hours, described the effort as time-consuming and "fundamentally disruptive" to operations. He shared his experience with the chairmen of the state Senate and House Education committees Friday at a briefing on the progress of Act 167.

Under the law, all elementary schools since last school year have had to provide at least five hours and five minutes of instruction on average each day for a total of 915 hours a year. This school year, all but 10 elementary schools are in compliance, Department of Education Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe said.

The 10 schools are coming up short by anywhere from five minutes to 120 minutes per week, meaning some students are receiving up to 72 fewer hours of classroom time a year than their peers.

Next school year, which begins in August, middle and high schools will have to provide a minimum average of 5 1/2 hours of instruction a day for a total of 990 hours a year.

It’s unclear how many secondary schools currently meet those hours. The schools will be submitting their schedules for next year later this month. But last spring, the DOE reported to lawmakers that only two secondary schools were meeting the 990-hour target at that time.

The department convened a task force over the summer to come up with sample bell schedules that schools could use to meet the requirements.

DOE officials have said increasing instructional time across elementary schools was less challenging because those students typically have a single class, while middle-, intermediate- and high-schoolers have multiple classes and individualized schedules.

Also at issue is the law’s narrow definition of what counts toward a school’s minute tally and figuring out ways to increase instructional time without exceeding teachers’ contracted seven-hour workday.

Under the existing law, elementary and secondary schools would need to further increase instructional hours to an average of six hours a day, or 1,080 hours a year, by the 2017-18 school year.

Murphy called that requirement "mathematically impossible" to achieve at current funding levels. He suggested lawmakers consider suspending that portion of the law.

The Senate Education Committee earlier in the day vetted two competing bills that would amend Act 167 and likely offer some relief to schools.

Senate Bill 2139, introduced by Senate Education Chairwoman Jill Tokuda (D, Kailua-Kaneohe), would keep next year’s 990-hour requirement for secondary schools but eliminate the higher hours required of all schools in 2018. It would also repeal the definition of instructional hours and authorize the Board of Education to define the term.

Meanwhile, SB 2922, introduced by Ways and Means Chairman David Ige (D, Pearl Harbor-Pearl City-Aiea), would lengthen the school year to 190 days but essentially repeal Act 167 by discontinuing any minimum hours.

Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi estimated that lengthening the school year by those 10 days would cost about $6 million per day for personnel, bus transportation, school lunches and utilities.

Matayoshi testified in support of SB 2139 Friday and offered comments on the other measure, citing the potential costs as one concern.

The teachers union, however, testified in support of SB 2922, arguing that instructional hours should be collectively bargained, not mandated by law.

Oahu mothers Melanie Bailey and Kathy Bryant — who were instrumental in ending Furlough Fridays and drafted the original bill to lengthen the school day — opposed attempts to eliminate minimum instructional hours.

Bryant told the committee that the 990-hour requirement would only get Hawaii to the middle of the pack among other states.

"Rather than delete and not even try to get to the 1,080 (hours)," postpone it until the next HSTA contract negotiations, Bryant suggested. "Without it I don’t think we’ll try."

The Senate Education Committee put off deciding which of the bills to advance until Wednesday.

Source: Hawaii Revised Statutes