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The policies of the Hawaii State Board of Education are clear: Decisions are supposed to be based on data.

That’s .

But the reality is a lot more gray. Let me share with you what I’ve experienced in response to requests and tell you why I think you should care.

Two records requests so far officially rejected. Three others put on ice “due to the size” of the requests. Not one fulfilled.

“The department will need additional time to acquire the information” or to “review and process your request,” the letters in response to information requests from Civil Beat read:

• A copy of the teacher contract the department is operating under — rejected
• The number of teachers who have been fired within the last five years — rejected
• The number of tenured teachers who did not receive scheduled salary increases last time salaries were increased — need additional time
• The number of teachers who have taught in more than three schools in the last 10 years (and the number of schools each of them has taught in) — need additional time
• The number of public school teachers who were evaluated in the 2009-10 school year; how many of those received marginal or unsatisfactory evaluations; how many of those led to a grievance process; how many of those ultimately were terminated — need additional time

Then there was my most recent request regarding the department’s incentive program to retain teachers in hard-to-staff rural areas. The recruitment administrator responsible for the program said he didn’t have the data on hand, and even with advance notice and multiple follow-ups, he didn’t provide it. (Of course the department is often helpful with informal requests.)

We’re asking for this information because at Civil Beat, we believe in basing our reporting on reliable data, just as the board says it’s committed to basing its policies on data. We believe in the importance of transparency, that the public will be able to make better decisions if it can see clearly what public entities are doing.

The board of education establishes policies affecting roughly 178,000 children and more than 20,000 employees — more than 15 percent of the population of the state. Its policy handbook says board staff “shall” gather data to help formulate policy and to evaluate its impact.

But if the Hawaii Department of Education can’t deliver data to outside sources, can we be sure that the board itself is getting the data it needs? Without data, it’s hard for the public to assess the decisions of the board.

This concern is something I’ve shared with the board.

On July 9, I had made the following observation to my Twitter followers, including Board Chairman Garrett Toguchi:

“DOE has responded to my three latest records requests w/same answer: ‘Due to the size of your request…will need more time…’ #becivil”

Toguchi (@guch) responded:
“@ktpoy Kpoi – don’t fret. I acknowledged that we would also hav 2 b patient due to position/$ cuts.”

It’s true that they’re swamped. And the financial problems Toguchi raises are serious.

That being said, it seems clear that they’re not tracking some things. After the late June letters rejecting my requests, I followed up with Acting Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe, whose signature was on the letters and who has been candid with me in the past when we spoke about other difficult subjects.

“We don’t track that kind of data,” he said of teacher firings.

This lack of data becomes an even bigger concern now that budget cuts are forcing tough decisions. This is when it’s most important to scrutinize existing programs carefully and weed out the ones that aren’t producing strong results.

Not tracking teacher firings? In order to determine if the teacher tenure system is working well, wouldn’t that be important information for the board to obtain at some point? Isn’t it the department’s job to track and prepare data for the board’s evaluation — not to mention for taxpayers?

I don’t like writing these stories about problems with data. I dread calling the department after publishing them. I want to write stories analyzing real data and information so I can tell you the truth about what’s happening in education in Hawaii. But if the data is not available, then I think it’s important that we all know about it and work together to change the situation.