>>Yes - the teachers morale is very low. They do not get paid enough - as you know the cost of living on the islands it very high - and the teachers to not make enough. They've had to work without contracts and threaten to strike just to finally get a contract. Not to mention it gets pretty hot sometimes and a lot of the schools have no A/C and in some cases lack fans for the classrooms. Every year people (myself included) donate fans for the kids in the classrooms. When the teachers can't make enough to live off of - they quit and move to the mainland or take up other careers - and then you have to pick from the pool of teachers left. Sooner or later all that's left is the lousy teachers.

OK. So the governor's taskforce thought outside the square and advertised internationally for teachers in paradise. Smart- Hawaii isn't exactly the gulag and remains a dream destination for much of the world. The result was thousands- THOUSANDS of applicants for teaching positions. Unfortunately not all of them were qualified but even if none of them proves suitable, that's a morale booster for teachers who are reminded that there are multitudes who envy teachers in Hawaii.

I agree the solution involves a decent wage for teachers. The precursor is that education is an investment not an optional extra. Poor compliance and acceptance of bad outcomes does give an impression that you can cut spending on education because it's screwed anyway. That's one of the big hurdles tackled by the taskforce. These are our kids. We need to do better.

>>My girly-girl coughed up the $ to send her kid to private school all the way though because of how bad it is. I have a surfer friend that grew up in Hawaii, then when he was in 8th or 9th grade his family moved to Texas. He told me they put him back 1 grade when he got there and said they really should of put him back 2 grades because of how far behind he was, despite getting ok grades in Hawaii.

So it's been bad for years and the system looked the other way. Until the governor decided enough is enough and probably exceeded his mandate to force change. Fortune favors the brave and God helps those who help themselves. ;-)

>>But the basic level of education requirements needs to be set at the federal level.

Agree 100%. Set compulsory curriculum and minimum standards, then delegate (as opposed to abdicating) to locals. Give them a chance unless they prove incompetent or disrespect their boundaries. Focus on school leadership (including paying headmasters/headmistresses enough to attract good overseas talent) then honor their authority and only intervene if they screw up royally. That seems to be the GOP mantra. IMHO the problem is that there's a fine line between this and vouchering or privatizing public education into decline, which deVos is accused of advocating. She faces a rocky road if that is her intention since guaranteed decent education is one of the pillars of a fair society.

BTW, I see that deVoss scraped in, requiring the VP's casting vote for the first time ever. I read this as "we have misgivings but will give you a chance, so don't you dare screw this up" from both sides of Senate. Step carefully, ma'am. ;-)