Schools’ federal funding in hand

Hawaii public schools won’t immediately feel the effects of across-the-board federal budget cuts set to begin Friday, school officials said.

That’s despite a new White House report spelling out close to $7 million in potential federal cuts Hawaii’s public schools would face this year under sequestration. Effects would include possible layoffs of an estimated 80 teachers and aides, the report said.

State Schools Superintendent Kathryn Mata­yo­shi said the state already has most of its federal education funding in hand for the current school year.

"We are funded through this school year for most of our federal funding," Mata­yo­shi told the Star-Advertiser on Monday, "so there would be no impact on the current school year," which ends in May.

Still, the department is bracing for the cuts to ensure student services are not disrupted. The state school board, meanwhile, has told the department to be more efficient with its spending in light of the budget stalemate.

Any reductions would be critical for the department, which gets about 15 percent of its money from the federal government. Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 lists about $266 million in federal funding as part of the Department of Education’s $1.8 billion operating budget.

With sequestration looming in the absence of a budget deal in Congress, the White House on Sunday issued a report detailing how the $85 billion in automatic budget cuts will affect government services in each state.

Hawaii’s public schools stand to lose nearly $5 million this year for primary and secondary schools, putting the jobs of approximately 60 teachers and aides at risk, the report said. The decrease would be felt by about 9,000 students at 20 schools.

The DOE would also see a $2 million cut in special-education funding to support students with disabilities, resulting in a loss of about 20 teacher and staff positions, the report said.

"Obviously, this is very big news, but it’s not an immediate impact on our schools," Mata­yo­shi said of the White House figures. "We don’t want to create any fear out there. It would really have an impact on next school year, giving us some time to do more planning."

One strategy would be to reallocate money from funded but vacant positions to prevent job losses, she said.

DOE officials did not immediately have an updated number of vacant funded positions, but Mata­yo­shi described it as a "large number each year" due to retirements and turnover, adding that the department hires 800 to 1,000 new teachers each year.

"We would hope that there would be a resolution to sequestration in the next few months, so that hopefully our plan will be more of a contingency," Mata­yo­shi said.

Even with the department’s federal money secured for the current school year, Board of Education Finance Chairman Wesley Lo said he’s asked the DOE to spend more efficiently.

"What I’m concerned about is, although we have money for this year, it’s going to be very critical that we spend it very wisely so we can be prepared for sequestration and debt ceiling discussions for future years," Lo said. "Yes, we’ve got money committed this year, but we have to keep our eyes on the future so that we have as little impact, or no impact on the classroom at all."

LO ALSO cited concerns about the domino effect sequestration would have on the overall economy.

"It’s still too early to tell, but what if this pushes us onto the brink of another recession?" he said. "Sequestration is only the first step. I think we’re not through with everything else that will happen."

At the state government level, a $25 million cushion has been built into the statewide financial plan to help ease the impact of sequestration across all departments, Budget and Finance Deputy Director Luis Sala­ve­ria said.

"As an administration we have made contingencies available to address potential sequestration, albeit not at 100 percent of what would be lost," Sala­ve­ria said.

The White House report also identified cuts for the federally funded Head Start program, which helps infants and toddlers in low-income families prepare for school.

The school-readiness program, which falls under the state Department of Human Services, serves more than 3,000 children statewide.

Under sequestration, services would be eliminated for about 200 children in Hawaii, the report said.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services did not immediately have a comment on the potential cuts to Head Start on Monday.