Half-empty or half-full? When it comes to the educational glass, Hawaii’s top administrators again reach for half-full — and parents are left wondering if learning for Hawaii’s students will ever rise to the top.

New, more-rigorous Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) scores released Tuesday show that fewer than half of public school students here tested proficient in language arts (48 percent), and that only 2 in 5 students met or exceeded benchmarks in math (41 percent).

“These first-year results show promise,” said schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi, in spinning a positive. “Test scores show we’re not where we want to be, but we’re on the right track for all students to be college- and career- ready.”

Schools officials acknowledged that Hawaii’s scores were below target, but took some comfort in seeing that overall, students here did as well or better than the 10 other states that have posted SBA scores so far.

Still, we strongly believe in the abilities of Hawaii’s public teachers and students, and that is why, as an educational system, nearly half-full is not nearly good enough.

Hawaii was among some two dozen states that administered the new, tougher and computerized SBA, which is aligned with the national Common Core standards aimed at college preparedness.

Starting last year, public school students are being tested yearly on math and English in grades 3 through 8, and once in high school.

Because of the tests’ rigor — if a student answers correctly, for instance, the next question will be harder — Hawaii and other states had anticipated lower scores, and unfortunately, they were right.

Further, the wide disparity among individual schools is both eye-opening and frustrating. Proficiency levels here exceeded 90 percent for certain grades and subjects at some elementary schools — a terrific accomplishment, surely — but some smaller schools saw zero proficiency in some grades. A widening achievement gap has many rightly worried.

Granted, Hawaii’s public-school system comprises a huge diversity of students across a wide spectrum of socio-economic situations. Still, such a wide swing among the school system’s SBA results is alarming.

The state will be releasing more detailed school-level data next month, and such specifics will be crucial to inform targeted help to struggling schools and their students.

“We’re not satisfied with these percentages, but at the same time we’re pleased to see where we stand with regards to other states,” DOE Deputy Superintendent Stephen Schatz said. “This is the starting point. The next step for us is to dig into where we’re doing well and where we’re not, and see where we can make an impact.”

Such focused support for struggling schools makes perfect sense, but it will involve more campus-level help and resources. So it was baffling to hear this week of the DOE’s proposal to reduce school-based funds by $4.3 million, which included $3.7 million in weighted student formula (WSF) money.

The WSF is used to determine how much schools receive per pupil based on factors such as economic disadvantages, special- needs and English-language challenges. It’s these very factors, clearly, that heavily affect a student’s learning and test-taking abilities, so the school-based funds should not even be considered as the DOE works to meet the governor’s directive to restrict spending.

Due to economic uncertainies, all state department heads need to impose a 10 percent restriction on discretionary funding; for the DOE, that’s nearly $15 million for the current fiscal year.

Fortunately, a state Board of Education committtee has rejected DOE’s proposal to reduce the per-pupil funding and, instead, called for defunding of vacant positions or further reducing administrative expenses. A revised budget plan will come next month.

As Hawaii starts down this latest path of education reform, it will be crucial for DOE administrators to remember that all roads lead back to the classroom.

To achieve more fully with skills for life, the kids and their teachers need more school-based support, not more bureaucratic management.