article top
On Thursday, Aug. 18, the State Board of Education voted to create two new Vice Superintendent positions, setting base salaries at $190,000, at least until the next legislative session when permanent funding is required. and hired two named individuals to fill the role. position. All at once.
Testimony from the Hawaii State Teachers Association presented for that conference said:
in line
I was very surprised to learn that hiring a new Inspector would cost an additional $380,000 (more than $579,000 when fringe benefits are taken into account) for adding two Deputy Inspectors to the bureaucracy. This translates to more than $500,000 a year in costs out of our classrooms and learners.
….
One of the benefits of the statewide school system is that it requires less bureaucracy, resulting in greater efficiency. Spending millions of dollars on additional, complex, state-level positions erodes that narrative and further undermines public confidence that the Hawaii Department of Education is using public funds wisely. Considering their generosity in the recent legislative session, I have personally expressed my dismay at this turn of events just to see those money not reach the classrooms for which they were intended.
The Department of Education (DOE) is a large part of state government. According to the 2023 Administrative Supplemental Budget (Page 9), that accounts for more than $2.5 billion, or 15% of her $16.9 billion that the state budgeted for her 2023 fiscal year.
But there is little transparency about how the DOE spends its money. The Hawaii Institute of Education, a local nonprofit and education think tank, tried several years ago to force his DOE to release financial data through the state’s Public Records Act. They submitted a request for data for 2016 and 2017. They ended up in a bitter legal battle in which state attorneys threw procedural roadblocks and circuit court judges had to remove them piece by piece. Finally, data were published in October 2020. A 206-page court motion published by the nonprofit details the interactions between the nonprofit and the DOE that led to the lawsuit. The motion was granted by the court on March 25, 2021, according to court records. Further legal disputes ensued, and the court forced her DOE to pay most of her attorney fees and costs to the nonprofit, which will continue until mid-2021. The good news is that the data has been made public. The bad news is that it was so far from current that it limited its usefulness. One of her nonprofit consultants said in a statement, “He’s waiting four and a half years, including a court case, to obtain non-personally identifiable public financial data does not show transparency. ‘ said. Nor will it help when two years’ worth of state attorney resources are being spent on legal battles over transparency.
Lack of transparency is not limited to financial issues. The state comptroller asked the DOE to provide information on his COVID-19 policies and procedures, but in Report No. 20-11 (2020) loudly complained about the DOE’s lack of cooperation. I was.
Over the years, the DOE has been criticized for being top-heavy, spending countless millions of dollars within its top bureaucracy before sending that money to teachers and classrooms. Inject another $500,000 into the bureaucracy Fait accompli It will only perpetuate public mistrust of the inner workings of the DOE.
DOE, you need to do better. After putting together your accounting records for 2016-2017, you probably already know the drill and can create the records you need in later years. You are a public institution run on taxpayer money. Lawmakers and the public need confidence that money is being spent wisely.
comment
under
Comments
Post a Comment