Candidates for Hawaii lieutenant governor are defending their team’s education plans while questioning their opponents’ proposals.

Republican lieutenant governor nominee Lynn Finnegan on Thursday asked why Democratic gubernatorial candidate Neil Abercrombie last year supported an audit of the Federal Reserve but opposes an audit of the Hawaii Department of Education.

Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Brian Schatz responded that Republican gubernatorial candidate James "Duke" Aiona, the state’s incumbent lieutenant governor, failed to make an education audit happen during his last eight years in office.

Finnegan says an audit would ensure education money reaches students.

Schatz says Abercrombie would make the schools superintendent part of his Cabinet.