No one likes
furloughs. Certainly people who are impacted by the possible closure of Hawaii's public schools during "Furlough Fridays" have spoken loudly about it in recent days, to a point of
filing lawsuits against the State of Hawaii and Dept. of Education to organizing
a rally that could be the biggest ever seen at the State Capitol set for tomorrow, October 23.
The people whose children are most impacted by the furloughs have a legitimate bone to pick in regards to the "Furlough Fridays" issue. No one wants class instruction days to be taken away from Hawaii's public school students.
The problem I have with the supporters of "
Hawaii Education Matters" is the fact that the first thing they are asking for is
MORE MONEY. Asking for more money to fund public schools only plays into hands of the public worker labor unions. Union leaders have asked for more money to fund their worker payrolls long before they finally accepted the fact that furloughs are the best way to go.
The state does not have the money.
Raiding special funds is one fix that Governor
Linda Lingle will entertain for the upcoming session. Raiding special funds dilutes the purpose of the fund for was set up for. Often mentioned is the State Hurricane Relief Special Fund. Hello? Weather experts are predicting an active late hurricane season this year. Plus we are in an
El Nino cycle, which could mean
more hurricanes in the future. It is not
if a hurricane will hit but
when. I think most people would want the hurricane fund to remain intact should the islands be walloped by a big one.
Raiding other special funds will not work either because they are actively used for whatever purposes they are set up for.
So where does that leave us?
Increasing taxes. This is exactly what the labor unions want and this is what they are hoping for. You can bet your bottom dollar (of which we have very little of these days) that all of the public labor union leaders and their lobbyists will be back at the Capitol during the next legislative session asking for more money and funding it with more increases to your taxes.
People and supporters of "Hawaii Education Matters": Your huge rally could hit you in the pocketbook as your efforts play into the hands of labor unions who will ask for funding through more taxes. The labor unions will use images, video and audio from this rally to say "see, Hawaii's parents, students and supporters of public schools want more money. They want more taxes. Give us more money. Increase the GE Tax."
A more practical approach to alleviating Furlough Friday's for Hawaii's public schools is to either get rid of non-classroom assigned DOE administrators, have everyone take an overall payroll deduction, or reschedule those Furlough days so that they fall during
non-instructional class days. The latter is the best solution. It was never considered because the unions probably wanted this negative reaction to Furlough Fridays to occur so that they can advance their real agenda of getting more money through increased taxes.
Be careful what you wish for!Graphic: Hawaii Educations Matters website.
