I would like to challenge the statement that the “DOE is withholding some details of salaried positions because, officials say, the law protects personnel privacy” (“Judge gets EIH-DOE hot potato,” Star-Advertiser, Off The News, July 25).

As an Education Institute of Hawaii (EIH) board member, I believe it’s important to dispute the state Department of Education’s claim and clarify EIH’s requests.

In the EIH versus DOE lawsuit filed on July 11, item 13 states, “The DOE’s claim that EIH sought individual salaries, medical payments, and other personally identifiable information is false. EIH did not seek such information and was careful to exclude from its UIPA request any personally identifiable, confidential information.”

To reiterate, EIH is seeking personally unidentifiable job position electronic data, not specific salary information.

EIH’s mission is to improve the quality of public education in Hawaii. DOE fiscal transparency will help foster confidence in the budgeting process and ensure students are at the center of DOE spending.

Roger Takabayashi

Board member, Education Institute of Hawaii

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