Read Up on Hawaii’s Ed Board Amendment
I had a great conversation about the appointed vs. elected board of education issue with Civil Beat member Andrew Laurence at last week’s Value of Hawaii Beatup. And one thing I learned from Andrew is that even when they’re interested in a topic, our members don’t always have time to catch every article or post we publish on it. We get it: You’re busy people!
So I thought it would be a good idea to do recap of our coverage of the ballot measure to replace the currently elected Hawaii State Board of Education with one appointed by the governor.
Consider this a primer, of sorts. Bookmark it! Use it for reference! Share it with your friends! Feel free to ask more questions, and we’ll try to get you answers.
- Sept. 22 — Decision Time: Appointed vs. Elected Ed Board: Outlines the major arguments for and against the appointed education board amendment.
- Sept. 22 — Why Is A Blank Vote A “No” Vote?: An explanation and discussion about why voters will be forced to take sides on the amendment.
- Sept. 19 — Apathy in Board of Education Elections: Describes the lack of voter participation in the board of education primary.
- July 28 — Gov. Candidates On Appointed Education Board: In their own words gubernatorial candidates James “Duke” Aiona, Neil Abercrombie and then-candidate Mufi Hannemann weighed in on the education department’s governance structure.
- July 19 — Elected Ed Board Member Supports Appointed Board: Current elected board member Donna Ikeda said the elected board is “dysfunctional” and serves as reason enough to make a change.
- July 6 — Lingle Vetoes Process For Appointing Ed Board: Explains why the amendment question is more complicated when voters won’t know who would make the education board appointments or how.
- June 21 — Gov. May Veto Process For Appointing Ed Board: Explains how voting for the amendment might be more difficult if poll-goers don’t know the process that would be used for selecting board members.
- May 14 — Appointed Ed Board Proposal Will Complicate Elections: An examination of how voters might get confused when asked to elect their new board members on the same ballot they’re asked whether they want to replace the board altogether.
- May 12 — No Data Supporting Appointed Ed Board Over Elected: A look into what other states and school districts were doing. And how it was or wasn’t working.
- May 10 — Arguments Against Elected Board Sound Familiar: A time-warp to 40 years ago, when Hawaii fought for its choice to elect board members, citing many of the same problems with an appointed board that we’re hearing about today with an elected board.
