Conflict hampering public school reforms

Improvement plans cannot begin until the teachers agree to them

Lawmakers, education analysts and others said strained relations between the state and Hawaii State Teachers Association will almost certainly make for harder discussions about such issues as revamped teacher evaluations, the tenure system and incentive pay.

They also point out those matters, in the short term, are unlikely to be tackled until the overall teachers contract is resolved.

Whether the wrangling could jeopardize the state's $75 million federal Race to the Top grant Hawaii received last August after pledging to make ambitious improvements of its public education system isn't clear.

But several onlookers agreed the contract dispute -- and the absence of negotiations for now -- highlight just how tough making important portions of the state's Race reforms will be.

"The reality is it takes a lot of agreement among a lot of people to actually make reforms happen," said Christine Sorenson, dean of the University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Education. "It's a shared responsibility and there are implications if you don't. You could lose the money."

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