Ige raises hope for DOE reform

That new day Gov. Neil Abercrombie promised for Hawaii’s public schools may actually arrive with Gov.-elect David Ige, propelled to office with the help of the Hawaii State Teachers Association and possessing a far deeper knowledge of the decentralization movement the current governor once lauded.

Ige’s close ties to the teachers union do bear watching, especially since his choice as chief of staff, Hawaii Tourism Authority president and chief executive officer Mike McCartney, also has union ties: Early in his career McCartney was a negotiations specialist for the HSTA, and later its executive director.

Still, we are inclined to consider this pair’s relationships and institutional knowledge powerful assets, knowing that they go back years in the state Legislature. McCartney, then a state senator, and Ige, then in the House, spearheaded and shepherded legislation to make Hawaii’s single, statewide school system more student-centered and responsive to local communities. The HSTA and the Hawaii Government Employees Association, which represents principals and other educational officers, were not always on board, but McCartney and Ige forged ahead anyway.

Then education chairmen in their respective chambers, they made some headway in driving more of the state Department of Education’s resources and decision-making down to the school level, but there was much unfinished business — and now they are in a better position to finish it.

Abercrombie promised a full-scale reorganization of the school system to place decision-making authority within the schools, but did not follow through. We are confident that Ige is more inclined to do so, to the benefit of students who will find curriculum and course offerings best suited to what they want and need to learn, and greater latitude to use instructional technology that is essential to learning in the 21st century. Ultimately, this is best not only for the students and their families, but also for the communities in which they live. A rural neighbor island school that succeeds in resurrecting a long-lost vocational agriculture program, for example, simultaneously fills an educational need and a societal one.

Ige will have direct authority to appoint members of the Board of Education as openings arise, and he should appoint people who understand that schools and children on Molokai are not exactly the same as schools and children in Manoa. Hawaii’s single, statewide school district, which is unique in the nation, provides funding equity (because schools are not dependent on real property taxes according to neighborhood wealth), but it also stifles local control and creativity, a negative consequence exacerbated in the No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top eras, with their federal edicts.

The governor-elect recognizes that the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of top-down mandates. As Ige told Honolulu Star-Advertiser political columnist Richard Borreca, he wants the Board of Education and DOE leadership to understand that he will be "looking to support programs that are about empowerment to create opportunities to support excellence rather than equality. It is about trying to make sure that they are focused on supporting schools rather than directing schools. I think that it is about being committed to developing school leaders. I have seen firsthand how having a good leader can truly turn around a school."

Along with those committed ideals and an experienced and like-minded chief of staff, though, Ige also brings to the governor’s office a fiscal restraint that should serve to tamp down the HSTA and HGEA’s wildest dreams — and reassure taxpayers worried about funding this transformative vision. It’s a promising combination, one that demands innovation and flexibility.

Clearly, the BOE and DOE must be ready to shift direction as the new governor comes on board. We expect that improving Hawaii’s public schools will be a defining theme of Ige’s governorship, and that he’ll want to get started on the first day.