Military parents attending a May 24 Education Town Hall Meeting at Schofield Barracks called by the Army's Commander of the 25th Infantry Division, Major General Benjamin “Randy” Mixon, expected to have an opportunity to express their concerns about Hawaii’s public education system.

So after patiently sitting through a lengthly lecture by Department of Education Superintendent Pat Hamamoto on the DOE’s mission, vision and education laws passed between 1996 to 2004, followed by a speech by Tripler Army Medical Center Psychiatrist Michael Faren on the negligible effects of deployment on children, many of the 200 parents attempted to ask the superintendent some tough questions.

One father asked, “I took your numbers (students and school budget allocation) and it came out to $11,700 or $1,000 per month per child. If there are 20 kids in a classroom -- and I’m being generous -- that means each classroom gets approximately $250,000. Obviously, taxpayers aren’t getting a big bang for their buck.”

Another parent described how her friend just moved to Texas from Hawaii and found that her son, who had met Hawaii’s requirements for a diploma, was ineligible to graduate in Texas. “Men and women are serving this country, but their own children are being forced to fall through the cracks,” she said.

A father of 4 children in the Leilehua Complex made a plea for national standards that would allow students to transfer across the nation with some consistency of instruction from one school to another.

Col. (Ret.) Richard Rowland explained that Grassroot Institute of Hawaii received a grant to solve the problem of consistency and quality instruction for military children. He began to tell the audience how he had been reluctant to come to Hawaii 35 years ago due to the poor education system.

Suddenly, Mixon lashed out at Rowland, yelling that he was not about to let his organization take control of his meeting. Mixon then called Rowland out into the hallway to reprimand him.

Noticeably embarrassed, the military parents in the audience silently acknowledged the general’s message conveyed by his angry reaction that under no circumstance would there be any discussion of school choice for military parents struggling to obtain a decent education for their children in Hawaii’s schools.

Rowland later explained that the general felt he had “no choice but to work with the system,” rather than take the lead to “send up a flare” to his higher-ups to help the families under his command.

Meanwhile, members of the audience continued to ask the superintendent questions about why federal Impact Aid was not being used to directly benefit schools serving military children. The superintendent explained that over $11 million in Impact Aid was spent on an emergency basis for transportation and electricity costs, while the rest was put into the general fund and spent on salaries.

Two parents asked why, then, were they paying $119 per year per child for bus transportation if Impact Aid was paying for it? The superintendent replied that school bus transportation is not free.

A parent of a hearing-impaired child explained how the transmitter in her son’s school was so poor that the child’s FM hearing aid was unable to pick up a signal. “Your figures showed Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and repair and maintenance under Impact Aid. How much Impact Aid benefits special education?” she asked.

Hamamoto replied, “$150M goes into the general fund to pay for salaries and for ADA improvements like ramps, elevators and air-conditioning. But there is not enough money in the system.” However, the superintendent did not mention that Special Education Impact Aid is awarded to states to directly benefit special needs children.

 A pattern developed as dozens of questions were asked: “How can we obtain challenging curriculum/textbooks/Department of Defense schools/programs for gifted/talented children/online instruction/basic special education services so that kids can do better?” one parent asked.

Each time, Hamamoto had the same answer: “We need more money.” “There isn’t enough money in the system.” “We have to work with the cards we have.” “Fill out your federal survey cards so we get more money.”

The superintendent never mentioned that all but one school in the Leilehua Complex are failing under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and that children are eligible to transfer to better performing schools or else receive free supplemental education services. Offering choice to parents would give students an immediate chance at success.

Some parents were surprised that the superintendent could not even answer the very basic question, “What is the single point of contact for special education parents?”

Instead of responding that the parent should contact the School Services Coordinator (SSC), she replied that she would “brainstorm with the Joint Venture Education Forum” to find an answer.

A retired colonel’s wife asked the superintendent, “What can you provide in 2006 to the children who are already here?”

 The superintendent claimed students in the Leilehua Complex were doing better than their mainland counterparts, but parents in the audience immediately refuted her statement.

The sole voice in the crowd that supported Hamamoto’s claim came from a 4th grade teacher from Solomon Elementary – a school that successfully employs the Core Knowledge curriculum. But even this school did not make adequate yearly progress (AYP) this year.

Parents who attended the Education Forum say they are dedicated and involved in their children’s academic lives and those that could afford to had opted out of the public school system, and “rearranged their lives” to home school or pay for private school. An angry mother yelled out at Hamamoto, “Why should I go into debt paying for private school? Tell me that it is going to change. Then do it.”

To which the superintendent replied, “We’re working on it.”

Parents who attended the forum say they left feeling that Hamamoto’s presentation clearly described how the DOE had no intention of educating all children until the 2013-2014 school year, as required under No Child Left Behind. Until then, the system is designed for failure.

For military parents in Hawaii, that means that those who are assigned for 3 years will not likely have access to a quality education for their children during that time.

One parent, disappointed with the State and Federal government's lack of leadership, pointed out that If Gen. Mixon told his superiors that his soldiers would not be ready for war until 2013, his head would roll. "Why is failure to perform unacceptable in the military, but acceptable for the DOE? If military leaders won’t go to bat for their soldiers’ right to obtain a quality education for their children, who will?"

Laura Brown is the education reporter and researcher for HawaiiReporter.com and the education policy analyst for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. She can be reached via email at mailto:laurabrown@hawaii.rr.com