Parent groups are urging the Department of Education not to seek exemptions to a new law that mandates sizable increases in instructional time in the upcoming school year, and say meeting the requirements of the law is possible with some creative solutions and compromise.

"I’m really concerned that this is going to be shoveled under the ‘lack of funding’ banner," said Jo Curran, co-founder of Hawaii Education Matters, an advocacy group formed in the wake of teacher furloughs last school year. "We appreciate it’s a logistical nightmare, but we must begin it."

The Department of Education says it will be tough to comply with the mandate, and has also said it will seek an exemption to the law for four multitrack schools on Oahu. Students at multitracks have fewer school days to ease overcrowding. Meeting the law would mean giving up Christmas holidays and wreak havoc on family schedules, the DOE says.

The new law, signed in June, requires elementary schools to have a minimum of 915 hours of instruction (about five hours per day) in the 2011-12 school year, while middle and high schools are required to have 990 hours of instruction (5 1/2 -hour average).

In 2013-14 those minimums are to increase across the board to 1,080 hours.

Currently, Hawaii elementary school teachers have to spend at least 849 hours each school year on instructional time. Complying with the mandate would require as much as 66 additional hours per year, or 22 more minutes per day.

Secondary school teachers spend at least 771 hours yearly on instruction, and so they could add as many as 219 hours of instructional time each year.

The new law also mandates a minimum of 180 instructional days per school year.

Melanie Bailey, a public school parent who helped draft the classroom time bill, said all Hawaii schools should meet the requirements of the new law, including multitrack campuses. "They’re going to have to decide what their priorities are," she said, adding the increased instructional time can be worked into the existing school day.

"We know we’re not asking for anything unreasonable," she said.

The department and the Hawaii State Teachers Association, which are meeting now to work out a new teachers contract, are not so sure the school day will not have to be lengthened to comply with the new measure.

Wil Okabe, HSTA president, said time for teachers spent outside instruction is essential for planning, collaborating with colleagues and things like lunch, bathroom breaks and "passing time" for high school students to get from one class to another.

He said he does not see how it is feasible to shave away at any of that miscellaneous time. "I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but I would like to know how or where they intend to take" more time for instruction, Okabe said.

He added if the school day is lengthened, teachers need to be compensated. He said keeping a school open longer will increase costs from electricity to buses to after-school care.

The DOE has also raised some concerns about the law, saying boosting instructional time will almost certainly require more money at a time when the state is addressing a budget shortfall.

"We are trying. We’re trying to look at options," said schools Superintendent Kathy Matayoshi, adding if the DOE has to pay for all of the added instructional time — rather than gain some classroom time by taking minutes from planning or other activities — "it would be pretty significant."

The instructional time law is just one of a host of issues, including new evaluations for teachers based in part on the growth seen in their students, that the DOE and HSTA are taking up in contract negotiations going on now.

Matayoshi said the early problems with the school day law do not signal trouble with other planned reforms, including the new evaluation process.

The existing HSTA contract expires June 30.