Below is testimony I’ve submitted for a special committee hearing to consider approaches to deal with the teacher furloughs.
Aloha Senators,
I am here, testifying before you today, on behalf of the Progressive Democrats of Hawaii (PDH).
Let me begin by applauding those Senators who have signed the petition to convene a Special Session of the Legislature to immediately address the financial crisis that continues to plague our state. I believe those Senators truly understand the immediate urgency resulting from the teacher furloughs and that this issue cannot wait to be addressed by the Legislature during the next regular session.
When times were good, our Department of Education (DOE) was struggling to provide a decent education for our children. Test scores in Hawaii repeatedly posted below the national average. And now that the DOE, put between a rock and a hard place by our Governor and this Legislature, has been forced to shorted the school year by 17 instructional days, making our school year the shortest in the nation. This unfortunate and shortsighted decision will only serve to compound problems already facing our state’s educational system.
While the State looks at these as cost saving measures, all the government is really doing is shifting costs on to parents, students, and employers who are already struggling through these hard times. With children out of school two Fridays a month, parents are forced to look for costly alternatives such as daycare, or taking time off of work to look after their children who should be in school learning.
As our economy shrinks, citizens look to the State to provide stability solutions. While the Governor works to shrink the State’s payroll by furloughing teachers and other State employees, she may find savings to close the budget gap, but what she’s doing for certain is exacerbating an already troubled economy by reducing income for employees, as well as its revenue stream through taxes by decreasing salaries. This is a wrongheaded and shortsighted strategy for dealing with our budget crisis.
We urge the Legislature to convene a Special Session so that alternative and reasonable solutions ca be suggested and debated. Among the options which might be considered are:
- Tapping the Rainy Day Fund for some short-term budget relief
- Tapping the Hurricane Fund
- Raise the General Excise Tax 0.5% to 1.0% to increase tax revenues and evenly distribute the burden across all sections of our residents. Additionally, certain exemptions, such as on food, could be included to ease the burden on those low-income families.
- Create a tax on such products like sugary beverages, like soda, on fast food and other unhealthy products. This would have the duel effect of creating another ’sin tax,’ in addition to tobacco and alcohol.
Mahalo for calling this hearing and for your time.
Funds raised by these options could be used as matching funds against funds being offered by the Federal government, funds the Governor has not bothered to apply for.
There are better ways and more effective methods available to us to solve these difficult problems and I want to thank you for not sitting idly by while the situation worsens and the education and future of our children is threatened. It is up to you, and your fellow legislators to immediately convene a Special Session and work quickly to deal with these problems.
During this financial crisis, the Federal government is working to improve the situation by stimulating the economy through increased spending. This tactic injects money into the economy by putting it in the hands of consumers and by creating jobs for workers. By cutting spending, the Federal stimulus cannot work to their full potential and cuts its benefits. And meanwhile, we are cutting spending on worthwhile projects, like educating our children.
Josh Frost
Co-Chair
Progressive Democrats of Hawaii
