No Turning Back for Abercrombie – Finally
Neil Abercrombie has appeared to wrestle with where to stand on the proposed for an appointed board of education.
The fight is over.
The Democratic candidate for governor voted Tuesday and came down in favor of the amendment — despite saying as recently as last week in a televised debate that he’s “against the proposition that’s on the ballot this fall.” As is the Hawaii State Teachers Association, which supports him.
Abercrombie has been consistent in saying that an appointed versus an elected Hawaii State Board of Education should not be the central issue in a governor’s educational policy. The bottom line, he has said, is that the governor should take full responsibility for educational outcomes in Hawaii.
But for a candidate who prides himself on 20 years in Congress and service in the Hawaii House and Senate, he sure appears to have gotten tripped up by the legislative process necessary to enact the amendment.
The saga began in April, when Abercrombie issued his . It contained one of his earliest statements on the proposal for an appointed board:
“The future of the Board of Education will likely be left up to the voters this November
“Neil believes the public schools would be best served if the Board of Education focuses on setting broad policy and evaluation methods, rather than overseeing the operations of schools.”
In July, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser says he told the paper that he opposed the amendment. In September, the paper says, his staff told it that he wasn’t taking a position.
Last week, he stated at a that he was opposed to the amendment because its enabling legislation was vetoed earlier this year by Gov. Linda Lingle:
“The governor vetoed the bill for an appointment process, so the only thing that’s on the ballot this fall is the concept of an appointed board. I’d love to have an appointed board; I’d like to be able to appoint that board. If this proposition that’s on the ballot passes now, we have to start all over again as to what that will mean. I can’t wait, I certainly don’t want to wait with the possibility of being governor for the Legislature to take whatever time is necessary to recreate all over again what an appointed board might be and how it’s going to come about. So I’m against the proposition that’s on the ballot this fall, because in the end, even if it passed we’d still have an elected board of education likely for the four years of the term.”
The next day, he held a press conference to respond to accusations by his opponent, James “Duke” Aiona that he had flip-flopped on the issue.
At that press conference, he challenged Aiona, saying that if he truly believed an appointed board would increase educational accountability, he’s had the last eight years to make that change. He stressed again that the structure of the board isn’t the most important issue for improving schools.
Then Tuesday he cast his vote in favor of the amendment, .
“From the very beginning of my campaign, I thought that an appointed board was the best route to go because I intended to take full responsibility for education,” Abercrombie told the station.
Abercrombie said key legislators have told him they will expedite a measure establishing an appointing process. That seems like something a former state legislator and congressman would have known would be likely, especially with his own party in charge of the Legislature.
