Gov. Ben Cayetano recently signed a bill designed to provide more power and accountability to the Department of Education. The bill allows for the department to hold schools individually responsible for their own progress. Schools that lag despite help will be open to sanctions. The residents of the state of Hawai'i have been screaming for educational accountability for years. Accountability in this matter should begin at the highest levels.
Schools lag because they have no funding.
And yet, the accountability is being passed along to the schools. In a perfect situation, with perfect funding and a perfect Department of Education, the bill would be a wonderful revolution. Forcing schools to be responsible with their funding could be a great way to squeeze more out of an educational system. But we don't have a perfect situation, and we definitely don't have a perfect Department of Education. The schools are accountable for some of our educational flaws, but the fact remains that larger problems exist in the state funding arena that need to be addressed before schools can be expected to benefit from accountability.