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This year, Hawaii lawmakers introduced a host of innovative education proposals. Farm to school lunches. A land trust to monetize unused school grounds. Dividing the Department of Education in half.

But in the end, they took the conservative route.

And while Gov. Neil Abercrombie got his appointed Board of Education, early childhood education initiatives and a Hawaiian language university fell by the wayside.

Some key money proposals fell flat, too:

• A request for $12 million to help pay University of Hawaii faculty salaries
• An attempt to extend the expiration date on an annual $4 million allocation to the medical school
• A pair of bills that would given the Department of Education authority to develop hundreds of acres of unused public school lands for commercial purposes (e.g. Housing, stores, etc). This had the backing of new Board of Education Chairman Don Horner and would have created an additional revenue stream for the Department of Education.

What Made It

At the beginning of the session, the top priority was establishing an appointment process for the school board. At least four proposals emerged and the fastest-moving was , which set minimum criteria for the board members and gave the governor the power to select appointees at his own discretion. The bill was fast-tracked and signed into law on March 14. Abercrombie’s “inaugural nine” were confirmed and sworn in within weeks.

Possibly the most controversial education bill allowed for loosening tight new requirements for mandatory school time. Legislators proposed this after they realized a law they passed last year might be cost-prohibitive for the school system to implement.

Another hotly contested bill that passed to monitor students with disabilities who are placed in private schools at the public school system’s expense.

Lawmakers also gave the superintendent power to that consistently perform poorly.

An almost direct response to recent ethics complaints against charter school Myron B. Thompson was , which increases accountability and governance requirements for charter schools.

After acknowledging that the state needs anti-bullying and cyberbullying laws that will apply to everyone — not just students — legislators passed a bill requiring of the Department of Education’s existing anti-bullying policies. They anticipate addressing the bullying issue statewide next session.

Also being sent to the governor for a signature is a proposal that gives to the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board and establishes conditions under which teacher licenses can be revoked.

What Failed

Even though the new governor repeatedly mentioned early childhood education during his campaign last year, and even though lawmakers had lots of ideas for focusing more attention on toddlers, that enthusiasm didn’t last. Not one of four initial proposals promoting early childhood education made it into the final stretch.

Another of the governor’s — this one for a Hawaiian language university within the University of Hawaii at Hilo — never received a single committee hearing.

The Legislature this session also explored alternative methods for school consolidation — a hot topic because the Board of Education was dealing with recommendations to close three elementary schools in Honolulu and consolidate them with other schools nearby. None of the lawmakers’ four proposals made it to the end.

A separate bill granting the board’s student representative voting rights received much attention, support and agreement throughout the session but didn’t get a final hearing before a 6 p.m. Friday deadline.