State task group is not limiting itself to the scope of a federal education law

Since taking office in 2014, Gov. David Ige has often cited his belief that Hawaii public schools would thrive under “empowered” leaders who are given the resources and flexibility to decide what’s best for their students.

Now, he says, it’s time for him to walk the talk.

Working through a selected group of 19 voluntary advisers, the governor has called for a “blueprint” to guide a revamping of the state’s public school system to improve outcomes for students. The public will have an opportunity to add its ideas at an all-day summit the group is hosting Saturday at the Hawai‘i Convention Center.

“I truly believe that the public education system in Hawaii can be the best in the country. I know it’s not all about money, although resources are an important part of that. But it really is about empowering schools and giving the authority and the resources to those closest to the children to make the best decisions,” Ige said in a recent interview in his office at the state Capitol. “Part of the blueprint is about being able to walk the talk.”

He said he envisions “a blueprint that takes the long view and tries to establish direction that can guide decisions and policies that we need to make in order to build the best public school system we can. And then it’s about implementation. … I’ve been involved and engaged with education for all of my 30 years here in the Capitol, and I’ve seen how in many instances the execution falls much short of legislation and the intent.”

Ige formed the team — made up of educators, principals, community leaders, lawmakers and business executives — in April, not long after passage of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, which devolves federal control over public education to states when it comes to school accountability, teacher evaluations, student testing and support for struggling schools, among other areas.

Although Ige has dubbed the group his ESSA team, the governor acknowledges he’s tasked the members with going beyond the scope of the federal law in drafting the blueprint.

“I do know that there’s no magic bullet. It’s not instantaneous,” Ige said. “Everybody’s worried that we are trying to re-create everything. I’m a pretty pragmatic guy, you know? We are where we are: We have schools that do very well, we have schools that need help. We want to get to the point where every school is successful. How we get from where we are to where we want to be — that’s the challenge and that’s the opportunity.”

The federal ESSA law, which replaces the No Child Left Behind Act, is scheduled to be fully implemented in the 2017-18 school year. It allows states to select college- and career-ready standards, create school accountability systems and intervene at low-performing schools — all without federal influence. The requirement that states test students annually remains.

Before implementing ESSA, the law requires states to develop a comprehensive and collaborative state educational plan with “timely and meaningful consultation with the governor, members of the state legislature … and state board of education, local educational agencies … teachers, principals, other school leaders, charter school leaders … administrators, other staff and parents.”

While the state Department of Education has started work on the plan, Ige wants his ESSA team, using input gathered at the education summit and subsequent community meetings, to share “big picture” ideas with the Board of Education before Hawaii submits its plan for federal approval in the spring.

“I personally didn’t want to constrain the process, because I do think that education is bigger than the explicit federal law,” the governor said of his approach of assembling an advisory team. “There are so many decisions, so many opportunities, so many challenges that are outside of the core requirements of the federal law, that we’re going to talk about the big picture and what it is that we want to aspire to. And then we’ll figure out what it is that we need to do to meet the federal requirements.”

Ige tapped retired principal Darrel Galera, who spent nearly two decades with the DOE, including 13 years as principal of Moanalua High School, to lead his advisory team, which has been meeting privately on Saturdays in the governor’s office. Galera and other task group members say they admire Ige’s ambition.

“The law itself — it’s OK to me, because I don’t think we should be too excited about any federal law,” Galera said in an interview. “But it’s not the law, actually, because the governor didn’t say, ‘Let’s do the ESSA law.’ He said, ‘Let’s create a blueprint for Hawaii public schools.’ That’s way, way beyond the law. It’s about what is best for our students. That’s what excites me.”

Mililani High School history teacher Amy Perruso, who serves on the governor’s advisory team, said she’s hopeful the state will take advantage of the flexibility in the new law and rethink its standardized testing practices. “What we choose to do with new power around public education could change a great deal. So we could move away from the test-and-punish culture, from a compliance-based approach to education,” she said.

Perruso, who is secretary-treasurer for the Hawaii State Teachers Association, added that teachers and principals need more authority to act in the best interest of students.

“It has to do not only with moving away from testing, but really unshackling teachers so that they can really do what they’re good at, and also empowering principals so they’re not faced with so many top-down mandates and can decide what’s best for their schools in their communities,” she said. “When you take that power away from the folks who are designing and running a school, the kids suffer because there’s no creativity; everybody is just operating based on fear — fear of bad test scores — so they’re not really addressing the needs of their community.”

State Rep. Takashi Ohno (D, Nuuanu-Liliha-Alewa Heights), who also serves on the task group and is vice chairman of the House Education Committee, said students should be the focus of the group’s efforts.

“The core of what I hope to achieve really comes down to ESSA, to every student succeeds. I think a lot of folks on the task force want to see every student from every sort of background succeed, and I hope ultimately that all this work that we’re doing results in recommendations that support student learning,” said Ohno, a former elementary school teacher.

Galera said Saturday’s summit is designed to be a listening session.

“We want to have this discussion about the possibilities, the hope and the possibilities for what we can truly have for our students in Hawaii. We think we have what we need to start the discussion,” he said. “This is their education system. We need to hear from them, and they will help shape it.”

Meanwhile the DOE is working to update its strategic plan. It has hosted 108 community focus groups to collect input and received more than 1,400 responses to an online survey.

Tammi Oyadomari-Chun, the department’s assistant superintendent for strategy, innovation and performance, said the goal-oriented strategic plan covers everything that the Board of Education has responsibility for, while the state’s ESSA plan will be Hawaii’s response to the federal law. (Under the state Constitution, the board is authorized “to formulate statewide educational policy and appoint the superintendent of education as the chief executive officer of the public school system.”)

“More engagement is better,” Chun said of the governor’s ESSA team. “Successful, high-quality education requires investment from the entire community, and it impacts the entire community. So the governor engaging more people is better for education.”

She said the department is working toward a March 6 deadline to submit its ESSA state plan to the federal government for approval. The DOE expects to present a draft to the BOE in November, which would open up the plan to a 30-day public comment period and provide the governor 30 days to review it, as required under the federal law. The legislation provides opportunity for governors to approve their state plans but does not require approval.

More than 1,000 people have registered to attend Saturday’s summit. For details go to governor.hawaii.gov/main/2016-hawaii-education-summit.