Washington, D.C. -- Congressman Neil Abercrombie has enlisted the support of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to help find solutions to the public education crisis in Hawaii that will reject furlough days planned for the state’s public school system that shorten Hawaii’s school year while school districts on the Mainland are increasing instructional days.
   
“Hawaii is in the midst of an acute education crisis.  We are about to rob 17 days from our children’s school year—days they will never get back, days they need to be in school, ” said Abercrombie, following his meeting with Secretary Duncan. “The U.S. Department of Education is working with me to find every potential additional dollar that might be used to keep Hawaii’s public schools open and operating for the full academic year.”

Secretary Duncan will deliver specifics to Abercrombie within days outlining funding opportunities available and restating the Obama Administration’s strong concerns about cutting instruction time.  The Administration has targeted millions of dollars in stimulus funds to public schools to improve the quality of education, with particular emphasis on expanding the school days and the academic year.

Hawaii is one of the few school districts in the nation that has not used stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to lengthen and strengthen school instruction, but is actually reducing the number of class days for students.   

• The Broward County, Florida and Beaufort County, South Carolina School Districts are extending the school year to offer more classroom time.
• In West Hartford, Connecticut, the stimulus funding is paying for after-school math and reading help for two of the lowest performing elementary schools.
• Lafayette, Indiana will use the federal funds to extend the school day and the academic year in schools with the highest poverty rate.
• Clark County, Nevada is using the funds for additional staff development, longer school days and tutorial and remedial programs.
• In Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma, the school districts are implementing instructional reforms and providing additional reading and math coaches.      

“Such actions demonstrate a wise commitment to the future.  These education leaders realize that their community’s economic health and stability in the years to come are totally dependent on how well they prepare their public students today,” Abercrombie said.

Abercrombie has called on all the stakeholders in Hawaii’s public school system — parents, teachers, administrators and state government — to restore the 17 days to the school year and work together to find better answers to state budget problems than robbing our children’s futures.

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