The Department of Education is moving to standardize bell schedules internally, after measures addressing big differences in the length of the school day among campuses failed to win approval from lawmakers.

But those efforts could prove difficult because bell schedules must be approved by teachers at each school with a two-thirds vote.

Following pushback from the teachers union, the House this week voted down a bill that called for the creation of bell schedule options that meet minimums for instructional time.

The teachers union opposed the House bell schedule measure, and a similar version that failed to advance in the Senate, saying it infringed on teachers’ rights to have a say on the length and conditions of their workday.

Wil Okabe, HSTA president, said the existing bell schedule selection process — outlined in contract guidelines since 2004 — is fair to everyone. He added that standardized bell schedules may do more harm than good, by being incongruent with the needs of the community.

"We view this as a bigger issue," Okabe said.

He also said, in testimony, that concerns about the "inability to obtain a ‘supermajority’ of votes necessary to enact scheduling changes" are overblown, since many schools have been able to get enough support from teachers to approve a new bell schedule.

But others point to schools that have been trying to change their bell schedules for years, and have been unable to because of teacher opposition.

Ann Mahi, acting Kaimuki-McKinley-Roosevelt complex area superintendent, said she put a bell schedule change at Roosevelt High up for a vote five times before it was finally approved last school year. The change was from a six-period day to a seven-period one, which required teachers to take over an additional class.

Mahi pointed out that McKinley High has also tried to move to a seven-period day but has failed, in part because of concerns from teachers about larger class sizes.

Many high schools are considering the switch from a six-period day because earning a high school diploma requires 24 credits. Students who fail even one class at a six-period-day campus would have to opt for so-called credit recovery courses or summer school or risk not graduating.

Earlier this year, the DOE convened a group of about 40 principals and school registrars to think about possible options for standardized bell schedules and what schools should consider as they look to lengthen the amount of instructional time students get.

The group’s findings will be provided to the superintendent in a few weeks, said Mahi, who was tasked with leading the discussion and putting together a report.

Mahi said the department is looking to standardize bell schedules starting with the 2013-14 school year.

State Sen. Jill Tokuda, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, said the standardized bell schedule bill was an attempt to address differences in the length of the school day among campuses. A recent DOE report found the amount of instructional time Hawaii’s secondary students receive varies widely depending on where they live, from a little more than four hours to more than five hours per day on average.

"There were some dramatic differences in instructional time from one school to another," she said. "It was really an effort to bring some standard."

The bell schedule measures also sought to give schools more discretion in how they define instructional time.

The discussion on lengthening the school day in the islands first gained momentum after teacher furlough days in the 2009-10 school year gave Hawaii schoolchildren the shortest instructional calendar in the nation.

Under a law passed last year, half of the state’s elementary schools had to offer at least five hours and five minutes of instructional time on average each day this school year. The DOE met that mandate, with 72 percent of schools hitting the minimum. By the coming school year, all elementary schools must meet it.

And by 2014 all middle and high schools will have to offer at least 51⁄2 hours on average each day. Charter and multitrack schools are exempt from the law, which also calls for a school year of at least 180 instructional days.