Letters to the Editor for Sunday — March 21, 2004

• Inouye on schools

• Mandated solar

Inouye on schools

I have followed the debate on education reform with much interest. It has engaged many in our community — parents, students, teachers, principals, business leaders, media, government, and policymakers — about what we must collectively do to raise the level of student achievement in Hawai‘i. The level of awareness is high and the dialogue fluid. That is good, and in keeping with our democratic traditions.

At the end of the debate, the focus must be on a series of actions to directly support and enhance the relationship between teacher and student that, in turn, will result in greater achievement. Many of the priorities are simple basics. More textbooks, yes. Repaired school facilities, yes. Smaller class sizes for a lower pupil-to-teacher ratio, yes. More computers and greater technology investments, yes. Increased support for our teachers, yes. Focus on increasing proficiencies in the three R’s of reading, writing and arithmetic, by all means.

Some of the other emerging priorities are novel and out of the box. They include the student weighted formula that would take into account the unique needs of each student; providing principals with greater autonomy to address the issues in their respective schools directly and efficiently; and according parents a choice in the public school that their child attends. I would venture to say that there is much more that the parties agree on, than disagree on.

The federal role in the education of our children has been to set standards, and to provide a level of funding to implement those standards. We have failed to deliver our part, which would support many of the reforms being debated.

More than two years ago, the Congress, working with the White House, enacted the No Child Left Behind Act to raise education standards, provide a trained teacher in every classroom and close the gap between disadvantaged and advantaged children.

However, this was not intended to become an unfunded mandate. Federal resources are critical to help communities recruit and train well-qualified teachers, reduce class size, and provide specialized instruction for reading and math. That is why I was very disappointed that the Bush Administration did not request full funding for the No Child Left Behind Act in its budget submission to the Congress. Add to that, my Republican colleagues, as the majority party in the Senate, also shortchanged America’s children by failing to include full funding in the Senate budget resolution.

While a gallant effort was made to fully fund the No Child Left Behind Act by increasing it by $8.6 billion, my Republican colleagues defeated the Democratic amendment by a vote of 46 to 52 last week. This amendment would have lived up to the commitments made to students and teachers when the No Child Left Behind Act was passed. This was a tragedy.

Unless we step forward and do our part, how can we demand of our states and school districts that they to do their part to meet the federal standards?

States throughout this land have, or are seriously considering opting out of these federal requirements, even though that would mean a loss of federal dollars to support, for example, the needs of the most disadvantaged students. Hawai‘i lawmakers have raised similar concerns. How can we blame them, when federal resources are not forthcoming?

We need to put as much priority nationally in the education of our future leaders, as we do in providing tax relief for those who have already succeeded, and for the war we are waging in faraway lands.

We in the Congress need to make investments in public education, if we are to truly be a part of the tough decisions and bold reforms being made locally to make the schools better and to increase the level of student achievement. We need to put our kids first.

DANIEL K. INOUYE

United States Senator

Mandated solar

As if to prove my earlier claims that government intervention in and regulation of the housing market drives the cost of homes out of reach for the average Kauai resident, Gary Hooser—Kauai’s own socialist senator— has authored and passed through the Senate SB 2682. This anti-property rights measure will, if approved by the House of Representatives, mandate solar water heaters, or what Hooser euphemistically calls “energy efficient water heaters”, for every new house built in Hawaii. This idiocy will add anywhere from $3500 to $5000 to every new house built. In addition, just wait, if the house passes the measure and it becomes law, those prices will go up as the legislators give solar dealers a windfall opportunity as we are forced by decree to deal with them.

All new gas and electric water heaters already have federally mandated labels on them detailing their energy efficiency, which allows people to compare and decide—if it is that important to them.

Hooser, with the aid of his economically illiterate fellows in the Senate, is stripping away your right to decide how you will generate hot water for your house. He knows better of course, and, because he can, substitutes his will for yours. Gee, comrade Hooser, I thought that this was America. You remember America don’t you? The only nation ever founded upon ideas and principles that protect and foster, not abolish, the individual’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is unlikely that he, or anyone in the legislature for that matter, ever got that point and instead ignorantly embraces a more sinister doctrine; one articulated by Benito Mussolini who wrote: “The Fascist conception of life stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with the State. It is opposed to classical liberalism (which) denied the State in the name of the individual; Fascism reasserts the rights of the State as expressing the real essence of the individual.” Hooser’s version states simply: You can pursue any happiness you like as long as I, your current embodiment of the State, approve.

R.S. Weir

Kapa‘a