National Call for March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education

Education is a right!  Fund education, not wars, prisons or bailouts!

National Call for March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education

California has recently seen a massive movement erupt in defense of public education — but layoffs, fee hikes, cuts, and the re-segregation of public education are attacks taking place throughout the country. A nationwide resistance movement is needed.

We call on all students, workers, teachers, parents, and their organizations and communities across the country to massively mobilize for a Strike and Day of Action in Defense of Public Education on March 4, 2010. Education cuts are attacks against all of us, particularly in working-class communities and communities of color.

The politicians and administrators say there is no money for education and social services. They say that “there is no alternative” to the cuts. But if there’s money for wars, bank bailouts, and prisons, why is there no money for public education?

We can beat back the cuts if we unite students, workers, and teachers across all sectors of public education — Pre K-12, adult education, community colleges, and state-funded universities. We appeal to the leaders of the trade union movement to support and organize strikes and/or mass actions on March 4. The weight of workers and students united in strikes and mobilizations would shift the balance of forces entirely against the current agenda of cuts and make victory possible.

Building a powerful movement to defend public education will, in turn, advance the struggle in defense of all public-sector workers and services and will be an inspiration to all those fighting against the wars, for immigrants rights, in defense of jobs, for single-payer health care, and other progressive causes.

Why March 4? On October 24, 2009 more than 800 students, workers, and teachers converged at UC Berkeley at the Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education. This massive meeting brought together representatives from over 100 different schools, unions, and organizations from all across California and from all sectors of public education. After hours of open collective discussion, the participants voted democratically, as their main decision, to call for a Strike and Day of Action on March 4, 2010. All schools, unions and organizations are free to choose their specific demands and tactics — such as strikes, rallies, walkouts, occupations, sit-ins, teach-ins, etc. — as well as the duration of such actions.

Let’s make March 4 an historic turning point in the struggle against the cuts, layoffs, fee hikes, and the re-segregation of public education.

– The California Coordinating Committee

(To endorse this call and to receive more information contact march4strikeanddayofaction@gmail.com and check out www.defendcapubliceducation.wordpress.com )

Army Releases November Suicide Data

http://military-online.blogspot.com/2009/12/army-releases-november-suicide-data.html

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Army Releases November Suicide Data

The Army released suicide data for the month of November today. Among active-duty soldiers, there were 12 potential suicides, all of which are pending determination of the manner of death. For October, the Army reported 16 potential suicides among active-duty soldiers. Since the release of that report, three have been confirmed as suicides, and 13 remain under investigation.

There were 147 reported active duty Army suicides from January 2009 through November 2009. Of these, 102 have been confirmed, and 45 are pending determination of manner of death. For the same period in 2008, there were 127 suicides among active-duty soldiers.

During November 2009, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were two potential suicides. Among that same group, from January 2009 through November 2009, there were 71 reported suicides. Of those, 41 were confirmed as suicides, and 30 remain under investigation to determine the manner of death. For the same period in 2008, there were 50 suicides among reserve soldiers who were not on active duty.

In a media roundtable on Nov. 17, 2009, Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, confirmed that the total number of suicides in the Army during 2009 had exceeded the total for 2008.

“We conduct an exhaustive review of every suicide within the Army,” said Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director, Suicide Prevention Task Force. “What we have learned is that there is no single or simple answer to preventing suicide. This tells us that we must continue to take a holistic approach to identifying and helping soldiers and families with issues such as behavioral health problems, substance abuse, and relationship failures.”

Although operational tempo and frequent deployments are often cited as possible causes for the Army’s increased suicide rate, data gathered through the Army’s efforts has not shown a link between operational tempo and suicide.

“We have analyzed this part of the problem very closely,” said Walter Morales, Army suicide prevention program manager. “So far, we just haven’t found that repeated deployments and suicide are directly connected. Approximately 30 percent of suicides in the Army occur among those who have never deployed. Many others occur among those who have deployed once. This means we have to continue to reach the entire Army community with effective suicide prevention programs, for those who have deployed and those who haven’t.”

In addition to the Army’s current campaign plan to improve the full spectrum of health promotion, risk reduction, and suicide prevention programs, the Army is testing pilot programs in virtual behavioral health counseling, enhanced behavioral health counseling before and after deployment, and expanded privacy protections for soldiers seeking substance abuse counseling.

For example, the Army recently completed the Virtual Behavioral Health Pilot Program (VBHPP) at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. The VBHPP team is now analyzing the initial results to help the Army better determine whether the program should be expanded to additional units and locations. Army leaders can access current health promotion guidance in newly revised Army Regulation 600-63 (Health Promotion) at http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r600_63.pdf and Army Pamphlet 600-24 (Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention) at http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/p600_24.pdf..

Soldiers and families in need of crisis assistance can contact Military OneSource or the Defense Center of Excellence (DCOE) for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Outreach Center. Trained consultants are available from both organizations 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

The Military OneSource toll-free number for those residing in the continental U.S. is 1-800-342-9647; their Web site address is http://www.militaryonesource.com . Overseas personnel should refer to the Military OneSource Web site for dialing instructions for their specific location.

The DCOE Outreach Center can be contacted at 1-866-966-1020, via electronic mail at Resources@DCoEOutreach.org , and at http://www.dcoe.health.mil .

The Army’s comprehensive list of Suicide Prevention Program information is located at http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/suicide/default.asp .

More information about the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program is located at http://www.army.mil/csf/.

Posted by Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.) at 1:18 PM

Mighty 4 Hawai’i – Hip-Hop History, BBoy Battle, Graffiti, MCs, DJs

Mighty 4 Hawai’i is a multi-dimensional celebration of Hawai’i’s hip-hop history and talent, and the social message behind the movement.

Saturday, December 5th, 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm

University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Campus Center Ballroom

DJ Jus Jones, Bionicman, Creed Chameleon, BBoy Battle, Mighty 4 appreciation awards to Syze 1, East 3, Skillroy, ABC Crew

Live Graffiti, Open Mic, Hip-Hop History Panel

$10 / Videcameras $10/ Youth 13 and under FREE.

AFSC’s CHOICES project will be attending this show to distribute counter recruitment literature.

mighty4

Might 4 B-boy Battle Hawaii 05DEC09-1

Lowering the Bar: Kindergarten Recruitment

Jon Letman is a reporter on Kaua’i island. He recently wrote an article about the school furloughs (Dead Last: Hawaii Gets an “F” in Education).  He had mentioned to me this incident about military recruiters visiting his son’s kindergarten.  I was amazed.  After years of doing counter recruitment work, I had not heard of the military aiming for such young audiences.  It raises a serious issue about the level of normalization of the military in our lives.  Why would school administrators think that it was okay to invite troops in uniform to an elementary school?

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Lowering the Bar: Kindergarten Recruitment

http://www.truthout.org/1117091%20?print

Tuesday 17 November 2009

by: Jon Letman, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

How old is old enough for students to be approached by military recruiters?

High school? Junior high? Fourth grade? How about ten weeks into kindergarten?

Last week at the dinner table, my five-year-old son announced blithely, “Soldiers came to school today.” He then added, “They only kill bad people. They don’t kill good people.”

He made the announcement with the same levity he uses in recalling the plot line of Frog and Toad or a Nemo video.

My wife and I looked at each other incredulously.

“Soldiers came to school? What do you mean?” I asked.

He repeated himself and then I remembered – it was “Career Day” at school. My son mentioned a bus driver too, but it was the soldier who stuck out in his mind. When my wife asked if the soldier was cool, he nodded yes.

The soldier had given my five-year-old a gift. From his yellow backpack, he produced a six-inch, white, plastic ruler with big, bold, red letters reading “ARMY NATIONAL GUARD” next to a waving American flag and below that www.1-800-GO-GUARD.com.

So, now we know the answer to the above question.

Kindergarteners – children with Dora the Explorer and Spiderman backpacks and bedrooms full of stuffed animals who are still working to master their A-B-C’s – are now targets for early conditioning by the US military. Never mind that Hawaii’s schools have just cut almost 10 percent of classroom time, dropping the state’s public schools’ instructional days down to the fewest in the nation. Teacher furloughs or not, time was found for the Army National Guard to give a pitch (and a gift) to wide-eyed five-year-olds.

Fortunately (from the military’s perspective), the economic collapse has been a boon for military recruiters as education and job-hungry young people flock to a place they know will offer what many other employers cannot – a job with benefits.

And with Department of Defense projections indicating that the baseline Pentagon budget will grow over the next decade by $133.1 billion, or 25 percent (even before war funding), it appears likely there will be plenty need for more soldiers in 2022 when my son and his classmates turn 18.

In his book “The Limits of Power,” Boston University history Professor and retired Army Col. Andrew J. Bacevich describes a near future in which the US is in an almost constant state of war. He writes, “Rather than brief interventions ending in decisive victory, sustained presence will be the norm … The future will be one of small wars, expected to be frequent, protracted, perhaps perpetual.” If Bacevich’s bleak assessment proves true, it’s no wonder the National Guard sees value in chatting up kindergarteners.

After raising my concerns about military personnel pitching to my five-year-old on career day to the school’s principal, I was told the soldiers (who were dressed in uniform) were there to focus on “the good things they do.” To be sure, in times of natural disaster, the National Guard can do a tremendous amount of good.

But in what must certainly have been a first encounter for my son and his classmates, the take-away message was “they kill people. But only the bad ones.”

As a parent, how does one explain what killing “only bad ones” means when the child asks why a NATO airstrike obliterated dozens of civilians, an unmanned drone flattened a mountain village killing children just like them or a deeply disturbed soldier goes on a rampage on a US base in Iraq or in Texas , and projects the violence he has learned against his fellow soldiers?

Whether you find the Army National Guard visiting kindergarteners utterly disturbing or perfectly normal, each of us needs to ask ourselves, in an era when our government spends trillions of dollars supporting wars with no end in sight, at a time when we can’t even fund our schools or public services at a minimum standard and only begrudgingly support health care reform, what kind of society and future are we building for our children?

VIDEO: Ohana Hoopakele wants puuhonua at Kulani

Watch video of the ‘Ohana Ho’opakele press conference on Hawai’i island against the closing and militarization of Kulani prison and for a pu’uhonua (place of refuge and healing).

http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2009/11november/20091120kulani.htm

VIDEO: Ohana Hoopakele wants puuhonua at Kulani

Ohana Hoopakele holds press conference

November 20, 2009 – Hilo, Hawaii

VIDEO by David Corrigan

As the sun sets on the operation of the Kulani Correctional Facility, a group opposed to the closure held a press conference in Hilo on Thursday to present an alternative.

Ohana Ho’opakele made a statement to the media in front of the Hale Kaulike splintered paddle sculpture, calling for 3 points of action: keep the Kulani minimum security prison open and functioning, allow Ohana Ho’opakele to work with the Department of Public Safety to build a functioning Pu’uhonua at Kulani, and “No military training at Kulani by the State Department of Defense or the U.S. Military.”

The group pointed to a Board of Land and Natural Resources meeting held on Oahu on Thursday, where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was seeking the issuance of a Right-of -Entry Permit for Kulani Correctional Facility. Ohana Hoopakele said they fear the area will eventually be turned into a military training area.

The Hawaii National Guard has already said they plan to establish a Youth Challenge Academy at Kulani.

The group hopes the pu`uohonua plan, if it ever comes to pass, would serve as the model for rehabilitation across the state. The area would become a place of refuge, under the Hawaiian process of ho’oponopono (to make right). It would also teach sustainability, stewardship, and other rehabilitative programs like the ones already employed at Kulani.

Ohana Ho`opakele says they are getting a related bill together for the upcoming legislative session.

Will former Kulani prison site become a military training facility?

Call to Action by Community Alliance on Prisons (CAP)

Background:  Governor Lingle ordered the closure of Kulani Prison and its conversion to a Youth Challenge facility, a school run by the military.   The State of Hawai’i Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) meeting  will be on

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009
9:00 A.M.
KALANIMOKU BUILDING
LAND BOARD CONFERENCE ROOM 132
1151 PUNCHBOWL STREET
HONOLULU, HAWAII 96813

The BLNR is being asked to approve a Right-of-entry permit for the Army Corps of Engineers to investigate whether there are unexploded munitions hazards in the area, which is a former military training area.    While the clean up of munitions is a good thing, the question that arises is why the urgency now? What are the undisclosed future plans for the site?

Native Hawaiian prison reform activists have been calling for creation of Hawaiian cultural based centers for healing and rehabilitation of substance abuse offenders for many years. They have requested that the Kulani prison site be converted into such a facility for their use. But the state chose to militarize the facility.

There is talk that the state’s long term plans are to turn the site into a military warfare training facility.   We need to stop this military land grab!  Convert Kulani into a pu’uhonua (place of refuge and healing).

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Here’s the message from CAP coordinator Kat Brady:

CALLING ALL SOCIAL JUSTICE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES!

As you know, the Gov has closed Kulani Correctional Facility – one of the most successful minimum security prisons in Hawai`i with the leading sex offender treatment program (SOTP). Nationally, statistics suggest that 11% of individuals who were in the SOTP while incarcerated committed another sex crime within two years of release. In Hawai`i the recidivism rate is LESS THAN 2% since 1988 (21 years) for an individual who was in the SOTP while incarcerated.

On Thursday, the BLNR will be addressing a permit application from the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for a right-of-entry to do an environmental investigation.

Why is the USACE concerned now when the facility has been populated for 63 years and they never looked?

The purported MOU with Youth Challenge is not even signed yet – what’s up with that?

Is Youth Challenge a smoke screen to expand military training? There are plenty rumors around saying that this is so.

The forest around Kulani (that inmates maintained and cared for on several projects) is being considered as a Natural Area Reserve requiring an enhanced level of protection

Are we going to stand by while a valuable PUBLIC asset is handed off?

Shouldn’t we have input on the future plans for Kulani?

PLEASE TELL THE BOARD THAT NO DECISION SHOULD BE MADE UNTIL FULL DISCLOSURE IS MADE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF KULANI AND THE PROTECTION OF THE SURROUNDING PRISTINE RAINFOREST….

PLEASE SPEAK UP OR WE WILL LOSE THIS FOREVER…..

Kat Brady, Coordinator

COMMUNITY ALLIANCE ON PRISONS

76 North King Street, Suite 203

Honolulu, HI 96817

Watch * Hawai`i InJustice *

Tuesdays @ 8:30 P.M. on O`ahu

`Olelo Channel 54

Watch Online at the same time

at www.olelo.org – click on Channel 54

Here is the testimony from CAP:

COMMUNITY  ALLIANCE  ON  PRISONS

76  North  King Street,  Honolulu,  HI   96817

Phone * E-Mail: (808) 927-1214 *  kat.caphi@gmail.com

TESTIMONY BEFORE THE BOARD OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES

ITEM D-1:  RIGHT-OF-ENTRY PERMIT TO U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

ON LANDS ENCUMBERED BY EXECUTIVE ORDERS 1225, 1588, AND 3092

KULANI CORRECTIONAL FACILITY TMK: 2-4-008:009

Aloha Chair Thielen and Members of the BLNR,

My name is Kat Brady and I am the Coordinator of Community Alliance on Prisons, a community initiative working to improve conditions of confinement for our incarcerated individuals, improve the quality of justice in Hawai`i, and enhance public safety by promoting smart justice policies.

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is applying for a right-of-entry permit to do a remedial investigation/feasibility study under the Defense Environmental Response Program and the Military Munitions Response Program.

Community Alliance on Prisons is offering comments on this application today because on its face, this application appears to be innocuous. However, to those of us who have been in the trenches working on prison and environmental issues, it is the cause of great concern.

Some background:

Kulani was encumbered to the Department of Public Safety (PSD) by Executive Orders No. 1224, 1588, and 3092. It has operated since 1946, first as a work camp for 120 inmates and then as a Correctional Facility for 160 minimum security inmates.

The footprint of the facility consists of 20 acres. It is surrounded by pristine rainforest with choke endangered species. There have been discussions about making this amazing forest a NARS area, calling for a higher level of protection.

Questions:

Community Alliance on Prisons wonders why the USACE wants to conduct an investigation now when there have been incarcerated individuals and staff on the grounds for 63 years. Why the urgency?

Is it because of the Governor’s announcement that the state will turn this much needed minimum security facility over to the state DOD’s Youth Challenge program?  That would be interesting since we have been advised that there is no agreement in place as yet.

Could the USACE be conducting an investigation to see if Kulani could be used for a long-term warfare training site with the Youth Challenge program being just a smoke screen to soften the blow?

This application opens the door to many questions that must be asked by you, the trustees for these fragile and precious resources.

  1. What is the long-term plan for Kulani?
  2. What signed agreements for the future use of Kulani are in place as of today?
  3. Has the community been invited to offer their comments on the future plans for Kulani? If not, why not?
  4. What is the state’s liability if USACE finds contamination?
  5. What are the plans for forest protection and restoration?
  6. Who from the state will be monitoring the work at Kulani?
  7. Will there be a report of the investigation available for public comment and scrutiny?

Community Alliance on Prisons urges the Board of Land and Natural Resources to probe deeper and find out the true reason that Kulani Correctional Facility is being abandoned by this administration when they testify that they need minimum security beds.

Something is very wrong. Please, on behalf of the citizens of Hawai`i, don’t make any decision on this or any other application until you and the public know what is proposed for the future of Kulani.

This half-baked plan has been a disaster for the county of Hawai`i and is a very serious blow to public safety and Hawai`i’s correctional system.

To quote a famous Japanese proverb:

Vision without action is a daydream

Action without vision is a nightmare

Please think seven generations down your family line and consider the impact of your decision regarding Kulani. Do you really have enough information to make a reasoned and informed decision that is in the public interest?

Mahalo for this opportunity to share our concerns.

Youth Speaks Hawai`i Fall 2009 Interscholastic Poetry Slam

INTERfall09FLIER

Upcoming Poetry Slam: Support Youth Voices!

Youth Speaks Hawai`i Fall 2009 Interscholastic Poetry Slam

Farrington High Community Auditorium; 1564 North King Street • Honolulu, HI 96817

Friday, November 20, 2009

7 – 10pm, doors open at 6pm

For ticket information, please call 753-4661 or Travis@YouthSpeaksHawaii.org (Get max. discount! $3; otherwise, $5 w/ ANY school i.d., $10 w/o reservation or school i.d.)

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Youth Speaks Spring 2009 DVD will be on sale at Farrington High on November 20th.

$7 ($5 each if you buy more than one)

Includes all poets, 4 rounds.

Produced by the Farrington Kalihi Media Club

Online orders can be made via email at kalihimedia@gmail.com

“The Good Soldier” opens Veteran’s Day November 11

The Good Soldier

http://thegoodsoldier.com/index.html

Jimmy_Massey_North_Carolina

Directed by Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys (DGA, Los Angeles Film Critics, and Peabody Award winners for Riding the Rails)

The Good Soldier follows the journeys of five combat veterans from different generations of American wars as they sign up, go into battle, and eventually change their minds about what it means to be a good soldier.

Here’s what Jason Albert of the Onion has to say:

“It’s hard to imagine watching a more affecting movie than The Good Soldier … because it may be as affecting a movie as I’ve ever seen. It took one seemingly simple question—What makes a good soldier?—and reduced the answer to its essence. That being, the ability to kill other human beings. Using the voices of veterans from WWII, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and Iraq, each gave this exact same answer, and they all spoke not only of their guilt and regret, but also of how at some point during their time in the military they needed to kill. Their reasons were different, but the training that gave them the skills and permission was not. I found it both hard to watch and hard to turn away from, and I know I’ll never look at the words ‘collateral damage’ in the same way again. Really powerful stuff.”

Music by JJ Grey and Mofro, CSNY, Nine Inch Nails, Big Bill Broonzy, Edwin Starr, Carly Comando, Muslimgauze, and Jimmie Lunceford.

Hawaii stimulus funds use draws fire

Here’s an article in the Honolulu Advertiser that provides some background to the school furlough, federal stimulus situation.    I wonder how much Hawai’i would save by cutting the JROTC programs, which provide no real educational benefit.

Here’s the editorial by U.S. Secretary of Defense Arne Duncan: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20091023/OPINION03/910230319/Hawaii+erred+in+cutting+education

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http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20091102/NEWS01/911020354/Hawaii+stimulus+funds+use+draws+fire

Posted on: Monday, November 2, 2009

Hawaii stimulus funds use draws fire

Federal official criticizes state on how it spent aid meant for education

By Derrick DePledge

Advertiser Government Writer

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wrote governors a letter last April explaining the purpose of $48.6 billion in federal stimulus money meant to stabilize public education during the recession.

Duncan said the federal money, part of a $100 billion investment in education by President Obama and Congress in the economic stimulus package, would go “directly to governors to help you balance your state budget.”

Governors could use the funds to help with the immediate budget crisis, he said, but must also commit to improve teacher quality, develop more rigorous standards, collect data to measure progress and turn around struggling schools.

Seven months later, as states issue the first reports on how the education stimulus money is being spent, Duncan and the U.S. Department of Education have criticized several states — including Hawaii — for using stimulus money to close budget gaps while reducing state spending on education.

The department’s inspector general identified three states — Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania — that have used education stimulus money to “free up state resources for non-education budget items.” Hawaii was not mentioned by the department but has done the same thing as the other states, which may jeopardize Hawaii’s ability to qualify for $4.3 billion available nationally in federal Race to the Top grants.

Duncan has also said Hawaii is moving in the “wrong direction” by reducing classroom instruction time through teacher furloughs to help close the state’s projected $1 billion budget deficit through June 2011.

“We cannot allow current economic challenges to create a long-term educational crisis for the state,” he said in a letter Thursday to U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii. “We must all invest in our children’s education so that they, Hawaii, and our country can succeed in the global marketplace.”

Hawaii has been awarded millions of dollars in education stimulus money, and some parents have wondered why the funds are not being used to restore classroom instruction lost to teacher furloughs.

The answer is twofold.

First, the stimulus money has already been set aside to help Hawaii’s public schools. State lawmakers spread out $157 million in education stimulus money over the two-year budget to help offset cuts to public education. Without the money, Hawaii would have had to make even deeper cuts to education, possibly including mass layoffs of teachers.

Second, while millions more in federal stimulus money was given to Hawaii, the funds are restricted to specific education programs for low-income, special-education and disabled students and cannot be switched to help with the deficit or other purposes.

Gov. Linda Lingle has $35 million in stimulus money left at her discretion that some have suggested could be used to reduce the number of furlough days. But the governor may choose to invest the money in education improvements to help the state qualify for the larger prize of Race to the Top grants.

Worried that Hawaii will lose out on the competitive grants, state schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto and Garrett Toguchi, the chairman of the state Board of Education, have asked Duncan to judge Hawaii based on the potential to enhance teaching and student achievement, “not on the budgetary actions taken by the state’s Legislature and governor.”

A review of Hawaii’s application for the education stimulus money shows that Hawaii clearly indicated it would reduce state spending on education.

The U.S. Department of Education’s guidelines set the maintenance of effort requirement for stimulus money at fiscal year 2006 levels, meaning states could reduce state spending on education as long as they do not fall below the 2006 threshold.

The department’s inspector general acknowledged that state spending reductions on education are allowed under the guidelines, but warned that such flexibility could adversely impact the education reform goals of the stimulus package.

Linda Smith, Lingle’s senior policy adviser, said the state has used the education stimulus money properly and in keeping with the intent of Congress.

“They called it state fiscal stabilization funds because they recognized that states were facing financial challenges and needed to be able to use some of these (stimulus) monies to stabilize education,” she said. “And they set very specific ground rules for what was required to stabilize.”

Jobs protected

Teacher jobs were not only protected during budget cuts, but also in the new two-year contract between the state and the Hawaii State Teachers Association. Negotiators agreed to 17 furlough days a year for most teachers instead of pay cuts or layoffs.

The Obama administration announced on Friday that the economic stimulus package has saved or created about 325,000 education jobs nationwide, including at least 549 jobs in Hawaii, a figure local officials believe is low and does not reflect the full impact of the stimulus money.

The White House and the U.S. Department of Education also said in an October report that the stimulus money had helped states avoid teacher layoffs, which could have led to larger and often unacceptable class sizes. “Saving and generating jobs for teachers has had clear effects in the classroom,” the report found.

Mixed messages out of Washington, D.C., caused confusion locally as soon as the stimulus package was announced earlier this year.

Lingle wanted to use a significant portion of the education stimulus money to close the budget deficit in the last fiscal year that ended in June, which led to protests by Hamamoto and the state’s congressional delegation that the governor was missing the intent.

State House and Senate leaders instead chose to spread the stimulus money out over the two-year budget, essentially swapping it for state general-fund money to help offset budget cuts to the Department of Education.

The two-year budget includes $157 million in stimulus money meant to stabilize education — about $110 million for the Department of Education and $47 million for the University of Hawaii. The budget also contains $35 million more in government services stimulus money that lawmakers directed to the DOE and UH but is reserved at the governor’s discretion.

Lingle, the DOE and UH have agreed on how to use the $157 million, and while Hawaii has yet to actually draw all the money from the federal government, all of it is allocated in the budget.

Lingle has not said what she will do with all of the $35 million other than to pledge that it will be used for education, with 70 percent for the DOE and 30 percent for UH. Smith said Lingle would use $1.4 million for UH astronomy, science and engineering. The governor will likely use the remainder on education improvements that may help the state qualify for Race to the Top grants.

“Our best expenditure of these funds is to make sure that we can then put Hawaii in a position to get more federal money,” Smith said.

Abercrombie has told lawmakers that Lingle may be eligible for an additional $12 million in discretionary government services stimulus money, although Smith said on Friday that the administration was not aware of — but would welcome — the funds.

Furlough Days

State Sen. Jill Tokuda, D-24th (Kailua, Kaneohe), who serves on a special Senate committee looking into teacher furloughs, said the governor should consider using some of the $35 million now at her disposal to reduce the number of furlough days this school year. The committee was told on Friday that it would take between $60 million and $85 million to cancel all the furloughs days.

The stimulus money held by Lingle could be used to shave a handful of furlough days, which would not require a special session, or in combination with the hurricane relief fund, rainy day fund or a general-excise tax increase to cancel all the furlough days. Tapping the special funds or approving a tax increase would require lawmakers to either act in special session or in the next regular session in January.

“If there are funds available to restore just one or two furlough days, I think that’s something we should take a look at,” Tokuda said.

Lingle has said that schools can request exceptions to increase classroom instruction time or convert waiver and planning days into classroom instruction to reduce furlough days. The governor also said the teachers union could agree to reopen contract negotiations and opt for pay cuts instead of furloughs.

Lawmakers used both the education stimulus money and extra federal Medicaid money provided through the stimulus package to balance the two-year budget at the end of last session. But state tax collections have continued to decline because of the poor economy and the budget gap has now widened to a projected $1 billion through June 2011.

Hamamoto said, ideally, that the education stimulus money could have been used as new money to expand the department’s reform initiatives. But she said the stimulus package was a direct result of the national economic crisis and the impact on state education spending, which was “leaking, like a dam had burst.”

“If we did not get the stabilization money, then we would not have been able to make our fiscal obligations,” she said.

Abercrombie, who personally asked Duncan to make a statement about teacher furloughs in Hawaii, said there are at least a half-dozen credible suggestions to reduce or cancel furlough days and questioned why the governor and lawmakers have not acted.

“There is just no excuse not to deal with this issue and deal with it quickly, deal with it directly, and deal with it in a straightforward manner,” the congressman said. “Put the kids back in school, get the instructional days back on the board, and then face up to whatever else you have to do in order to meet your fiscal obligations.”

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EDUCATION STIMULUS

Hawai’i expects to receive at least $192 million in federal education stimulus money meant to help close the state’s budget shortfall and improve teacher quality, enhance standards, collect data to track progress, and turn around struggling schools.

State lawmakers allocated all of this federal money — known as state fiscal stabilization funds — in the two-year budget passed last session. The federal money was used to offset potentially deeper state spending cuts to public education:

$157 million for the state Department of Education ($110 million) and the University of Hawai’i ($47 million).

$35 million split between DOE (70 percent) and UH (30 percent). Gov. Linda Lingle, however, plans to spend this money on education at her discretion.

In Hawai’i’s application for this stimulus money, the state explained that it was reducing state spending on public education from fiscal year 2009 levels but not falling below fiscal year 2006 levels, the threshold set by the U.S. Department of Education. Here are the state’s spending levels:

State Department of Education
• FY06: $1.8 billion
• FY09: $2.2 billion
• FY10: $1.9 billion
• FY11: $2 billion

University of Hawai’i
• FY06: $594.5 million
• FY09: $730.3 million
• FY10: $628.3 million
• FY11: $637 million

Hawai’i has also been awarded other federal stimulus money through October restricted to specific education programs:

Title I (low-income students): $33.1 million

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act grants (special-education students): $43.3 million

Education Technology grants: $3.2 million

Vocational Rehabilitation funds (disabled students): $2.2 million

Independent Living fund (disabled and older blind students): $330,796

McKinney-Vento homeless assistance funds (homeless children and youth): $175,966

Pell Grant funds (low-income college students): $15.5 million

Work study funds (college student jobs): $386,042

View Hawai’i’s application for education stimulus money at www.ed.gov/programs/statestabilization/resources
.html

Source: Lingle administration; U.S. Department of Education

Federal stimulus: Hawai’i cuts schools but boosts military construction

The choices leaders make in times of crisis like the present reveal something of their true character and interests.

As a result of furloughs, the state of Hawai’i recently came in last for number of public school days.  Mark Niesse of the AP recently reported:

At 163 school days, Hawaii’s school year ranks behind every other state. Most states provide students with 180 days of school, while 10 other states offer less than 180 days, according to the Education Commission of the States.

It’s a matter of misplaced priorities. The U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wrote an editorial criticizing the state’s decision to cut public schools.   Most states applied the federal economic stimulus funds to keep teachers employed and schools open:

Of the 640,239 jobs recipients claimed to have created or saved so far, officials said, more than half — 325,000 — were in education. Most were teachers’ jobs that states said were saved when stimulus money averted a need for layoffs.

Instead, Hawai’i used federal stimulus funds to build up military bases.  According to the Pacific Business Journal, $122 million went to 182 federal contracts and created 250 jobs:

Armed with federal contracts, Hawaii businesses have created or saved 250 jobs in the eight months since the creation of the economic stimulus package, according to preliminary data…

The jobs are tied to federal contracts, most of which cover construction and environmental projects for the military.

Here’s a article from this summer about the military stimulus.    How militarized are we?

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http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090526_Isle_military_stimulus_funds_arriving.html

Isle military stimulus funds arriving

By Gregg K. Kakesako

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, May 26, 2009

Money from the federal economic stimulus package has started to flow into the islands, with the Navy putting out nearly $42 million in construction contracts and the Hawaii congressional delegation announcing about $64 million in Army projects.

Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii at Pearl Harbor recently awarded three contracts totaling $41.9 million. A statement from the Naval Facilities Command said Hawaii is in line to receive $124 million to modernize Navy and Marine Corps facilities.

Two contracts are going to local companies:

» $10.6 million to Healy Tibbitts Builders Inc. to repair Pearl Harbor’s Sierra 1 submarine wharf.

» $11.3 million to Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. for repairs to Pearl Harbor’s pier Bravo 4 and wharf Bravo 5. The project had been scheduled for fiscal year 2010 but was moved up due to the economic stimulus awards.

A $20 million contract was awarded to Bulltrack-Watts, a Joint-Venture, of Marysville, Calif., to repair runways at Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai’s Barking Sands.

The repair of runways, taxiways and aprons has come at “a critical time,” said Capt. Aaron Cudnohufsky, commanding officer at the Kauai missile range. “The asphalt surfaces are at the end of their 25-year service life, and the repair costs over the past few years for patching and sealing the failing surfaces have significantly increased. This project will ensure the PMRF airfield is mission ready for the next 25 years.”

Capt. Rick Kitchens, commanding officer of Pearl Harbor Naval Station, said Sierra 1 is one of Pearl Harbor’s historic submarine wharfs, built in 1942.

Without the economic stimulus money, Kitchens said the repairs would have not occurred for at least another year, possibly longer.

Healy Tibbitts will repair concrete support piles and superstructure as well as the fender system that protects submarines while they are docked at the wharf. The work also includes installing an oil containment flotation device called a Perma Boom.

Hawaiian Dredging will renovate the pier superstructure, concrete-supporting piles, and concrete deck curbing of Pearl Harbor’s pier Bravo 4, built in 1928, and wharf Bravo 5, built in 1932. The work will also include repairs to the asphalt topping, timber pile fender system, mooring hardware and utilities that have become damaged or deteriorated due to years of exposure to the marine environment.

The Army will get about $64 million in stimulus funds.

The Army Corps of Engineers said $4.9 million will be spent to dredge and maintain Haleiwa Small Boat Harbor and Waianae Small Boat Harbor and replace air-conditioning units and renovate restrooms at Kalaeloa Barbers Point Harbor.

Hawaii’s congressional delegation said the Pentagon will spend about $59 million on job-creating construction projects at Schofield Barracks, Wheeler Army Airfield and Fort Shafter on Oahu and Bradshaw Army Airfield and Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.

The Army will spend $683,000 to install a photovoltaic system and generator set at Pohakuloa’s Bradshaw Airfield. An additional $1.9 million has been allocated to install two photovoltaic systems on two other buildings at the Big Island Army base.

At Fort Shafter, $5.7 million will be spent to repair the Staff Judge Advocate building, pay for termite repairs at Palm Circle and repair the youth center building and the library.

At Schofield Barracks, $33.5 million will go to install solar heating systems, renovate a motor pool and other buildings, install photovoltaic systems and upgrade other facilities.

Wheeler will receive $17.4 million to rebuild or replace several buildings and repair roofs, solar water heating systems and roads.