Blog #9: Can I work 4 days too?

Most of you have heard people say how easy teachers have it because most do not work in the summer, but can you image the grief the teachers in Hawaii are getting for voting in favor of a four day work week? I can’t. The teachers union in Hawaii recently passed with 81% in favor of shorting the school year to 163 days, instead of the regular 180.
The reason for this school day shortage is money. Big surprise! The economy is hurting Hawaii which according the AP, “More than a quarter of the state's general budget goes to the state Department of Education”. The governor, “withheld 14% from estimated salaries, or $227 million,” the article from USA Today stated.
The teachers union, “ probably wouldn't have voted for the contract if they had to work the same amount for less pay, paving the way for the shorter school year, said Hawaii State Teachers Association President Wil Okabe. He also said the state couldn't get the necessary savings if teacher furlough days were scheduled for holidays — or workdays with schools kept open. By accepting the shorten days the teachers also accepted concurrent pay reduction and postponed layoffs and random drug testing for two years.
So my first question to my classmates is, “would you have voted in favor of this?”

It is a very tough call because you have a feed yourself and your family. Nobody wants to be laid off and no one wants to take a pay cut. I can’t image being put in a situation like this. On one hand you are thinking of yourself and on the other you are thinking of the educational opportunities the students will be missing by the shorten school year.

Students and parents in Hawaii are voicing their thoughts on the issues. "It's just not enough time for the kids to learn," said Valerie Sonoda, president of the Hawaii State Parent Teacher Student Association. "I'm getting hundreds of calls and e-mails. They all have the same underlying concern, and that is the educational hours of the kids." The article does mention that some parents concerns were along the lines of not finding daycare for younger children and parents of special needs children not finding the proper services.

The state Hawaii has some other problems that many of you are familiar with, the No Child Left Behind Act. The Act set standards that states must meet in order to continue to receive federal funding. Hawaii is, “already ranked 47th in the nation in eighth-grade reading and math, according to 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores.” This is a real problem and by cutting more learning time how can Hawaii ever catch-up to other states? It won’t and might fall to last place which might take years or decades to recover from.
Since Hawaii is all one district the chance that this problem will go away is limited. I think the state is doing what it thinks is best for the budget, so we don’t have another California on our hands. I think the teachers are taking cuts to keep their jobs. What I wonder is what is the federal government doing? We are being pushed to nationalize healthcare which will cost at some estimates $860 billion dollars but the federal government isn’t concerned that the young people will be missing out on an education. Ironic, since Hawaii is the President’s home state don’t you think?

I am not taking a political jab, I am frustrated becasue students are going to suffer and some tend to have no problem bailing out GM or investors, then why not give the state short term loans to keep the schools open?