Lawmakers took the Department of Education to task Tuesday for moving ahead with a "Cadillac" version of a new performance-based teachers evaluation system, saying resources to implement it are "grossly underfunded."

The criticism comes as the DOE seeks $14 million for next year for schools to each hire the equivalent of one teaching position. In justifying the request, the department said it would help alleviate workloads tied to a host of reforms that have been implemented in recent years. Overhauling teacher evaluations was a key pledge — and one of several major reforms — in the state’s application for its $75 million federal Race to the Top grant.

In all, the DOE is seeking about $32 million in additional funding for next fiscal year, which would bring its total general fund budget to $1.39 billion, essentially flat with this year.

At a budget briefing at the state Capitol on Tuesday, some lawmakers criticized the DOE for coming in after the fact to help struggling schools.

"We have seen time and time again when the department, in implementing programs, really has no sense of the cost or the manpower requirements for a lot of these initiatives," Senate Ways and Means Chairman David Ige said after the hearing.

Ige estimates the annual evaluations — implemented statewide this school year — require 15 times the amount of work as the old evaluations that were given once every five years. "Yet they’ve provided no additional resources. I don’t know a clearer example of a recipe for failure," he said.

Ige (D, Pearl Harbor-Pearl City-Aiea) said he warned the DOE, "’Don’t adopt the Cadillac. You need to design an evaluation system that you can afford, and ensure that resources are available.’ The department adopted the Cadillac."

After piloting its revamped "educator effectiveness" evaluations at 81 schools last school year, the DOE rolled it out statewide this year. Beginning July 1, 2015, pay raises and other personnel decisions, such as termination, will be tied to teachers’ ratings.

With agreement from the teachers union, half of a teacher’s annual evaluation is now based on student learning and growth, measured in part by student test scores. The other half is based on teaching practices and will be rated through classroom observations and student surveys.

The department’s budget request for next year also includes $1.3 million for the student survey portion of the evaluation system and training for the classroom observation component.

During Tuesday’s briefing, Ige repeatedly asked DOE officials what they are doing to help reduce the burden the evaluations place on school administrators and teachers.

"In my conversations with the pilot schools, it was very, very clear that the teacher evaluation system would require a tremendous — a tremendous — increase in resources. And I’m disappointed that the department actually is launching into it when you knew that there was a tremendous increase in resources and expecting that everything would be implemented well," he said.

Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe stressed that the evaluations have only been in effect for one semester. He added that the department is working closely with the Hawaii State Teachers Association and the principals union to address any resource and workload issues.

"This work needs to be done for our students. Yes, it is a lot. We’ve asked our principals and teachers to step up and do a lot," Nozoe said.

Ige said even pilot schools that received up to $1 million in additional federal funds through the Race grant to implement the evaluations couldn’t pull it off.

"Clearly, the resource requirements are just grossly underfunded," Ige said. "What is the state doing to reduce or juggle the requirements or the workload that all of these new initiatives are having at the school level with no additional resources?"

As Nozoe tried to respond, House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke cut him off, saying, "We know it’s for the kids, we know people are working hard. We don’t need the soapbox response."

Nozoe said that the department is collecting data from schools and will use that to make future adjustments if needed.

"OK, so you guys aren’t doing anything," Ige concluded.

The requested $14 million would go toward the so-called weighted student formula — discretionary per-pupil funding that schools receive and mainly use for payroll.

The Committee on Weights, which meets every other year to review the per-pupil formula, had recommended last fall that the Board of Education seek to boost the funding pot by $34 million — roughly the cost of adding a vice principal and teacher at each school to help with various educational reforms.

"Additional funding is needed to provide a successful system of supports to ensure student and staff success," the committee said in its report to the board.

Ige said lawmakers will need to figure out how to proceed with the DOE’s $14 million request.

"The DOE came and asked for resources, but it’s too late. They’ve implemented the evaluations," he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "Obviously, we have no interest in penalizing the schools and school-level personnel who are trying to implement the requirements. We’ll try to see what is reasonable in terms of carrying out what has been mandated from the department and see what makes the most sense."