Letter: Oahu subsidizes other isle schools

George Berish’s proposal to transfer responsibility for public schools from the state to each of the counties (“Put schools under county control,” Star Advertiser, Letters, Oct. 7) is unlikely to improve public school educational quality. Neighbor island counties have signifi- cantly lower tax bases, and Oahu taxpayers effectively subsidize the costs of neighbor island public schools.

How are these counties going to deal with problems with teacher recruitment and retention in Hawaii, which are directly attributable to inadequate teacher compensation, when Oahu taxpayers no longer subsidize their schools?

Berish also does not explain why a state Board of Education appointed by a diverse set of state politicians representing diverse constituent populations with different educational back- grounds, perspectives and life experiences, is somehow inferior to a county board of education appointed by county politicians answerable to somewhat less diverse constituents.

Back to the whiteboard, Mr. Berish.

Geary S. Mizuno

Hawaii Kai

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