Star Advertiser: Superintendent says it will be tough to provide more school instructional time

Today's Honolulu Star Advertiser features a story about an on-going issue in Island public schools: instructional time.

To quote the story:

Public schools in Hawaii will have a hard time complying with a new state law requiring more instructional time next school year, Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said.

The law, passed following the state's embarrassment of having the nation's shortest school year because of budget cuts, was meant to guarantee that Hawaii schools would have at least 180 instructional days annually with 5.5 hours of daily class time in high schools and 5 hours, 5 minutes in elementary schools.

Hawaii students now attend class for an average of 4 hours and 43 minutes per day, short of standards in most other school districts nationwide.

Matayoshi said the teachers' labor union is arguing that adding instructional time will lengthen their work day -- contractually set at 7 hours -- and require higher pay.

"We're between a rock and a hard place, between a statute and a collective bargaining agreement, so we have to find a solution," Matayoshi said. "It would be a scramble for schools, but they'd make the effort for the kids to make the schedule work."

Read the full story and reader comments at this link.