Status: Closed — this petition is no longer accepting signatures.
Final supporters
The Education Institute of Hawaii (EIH) believes it is our duty to provide Hawaii public school students with the best education possible and present them with opportunities that position them for success. That begins with a properly funded and transparent Hawaii Department of Education (DOE) budget. We also believe decisions that affect students need to be made as close to them as possible.
Currently, fiscal decisions in public education are made with a top-down philosophy rather than budgeting with the schools’ needs prioritized first. It remains unclear exactly how the DOE’s nearly $1.9 billion operating budget is being spent due to the complex, non-transparent nature of its budget. This is not to mention the roughly $1 billion in other expenses that make up the almost $3 billion DOE budget as stated in the 2017 financial audit.
This prompts the question, “Is the DOE adequately funded?” The truth is, we don’t know.
YOU can assist EIH with our efforts to produce a much-needed financial study that provides a detailed accounting of how the DOE’s budget is being spent. Please sign this petition asking the DOE Superintendent to provide access to the DOE’s general ledger data, which is PUBLIC information. EIH formally requested this data through the Freedom of Information Act, but the DOE has not provided this critical information.
Our goal is to produce a proven database tool that allows everyone to see how every education dollar is being spent. Understanding where the money is being spent will help build a public school system that makes the best use of the DOE budget at the school level.
We need your support to complete this financial study. Please sign this petition and together, we can build trust and transparency that will lead to empowering educators to create the excellent public education system our students deserve.
Mahalo for your support!
More like this
More Than Zero
Fight for the Next Generation's Education
20 Comments
My wife and I have paid taxes and supported dozens of teachers and attended hundreds of events over the years putting our 9 children through HI public schools and we want to know where our money was spent—all of it!
I have been following your organization's efforts to understand the DOE budget and am grateful for your work. I tried doing that several years ago and discovered expenditures that were not part of what was reported.
Mahalo EIH for this project. School empowerment isn't possible without first providing school-level financial transparency.
Thank you for this petition. I started asking the BOE for greater financial transparency in 2012 and got nowhere. Then, Governor Ige ran on a platform of more transparency in government, yet he has proceeded to do nothing about it since elected *and* to appoint members to the BOE who have no interest in greater transparency. Maybe this petition will make it happen. I doubt it, because the BOE does not do anything not required by law. So, write to your legislators, too! Mahalo.
As a charter school board member and chair for 3+ years, my view is that it is incumbent on our legislators and DOE budget pundits to stop hiding behind obscure and obtuse procedures. Let's clean it up so we all understand more clearly one fundamental question: How much of the DOE budget really reaches and serves our keiki?
Keep up the good work, Thank You!
I went to school in Hawaii and I know how behind we are compared to most schools. Anything in hopes for a better education system for our children in the future.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Copy link or share directly
Status: Closed — this petition is no longer accepting signatures.
Final supporters
The Education Institute of Hawaii (EIH) believes it is our duty to provide Hawaii public school students with the best education possible and present them with opportunities that position them for success. That begins with a properly funded and transparent Hawaii Department of Education (DOE) budget. We also believe decisions that affect students need to be made as close to them as possible.
Currently, fiscal decisions in public education are made with a top-down philosophy rather than budgeting with the schools’ needs prioritized first. It remains unclear exactly how the DOE’s nearly $1.9 billion operating budget is being spent due to the complex, non-transparent nature of its budget. This is not to mention the roughly $1 billion in other expenses that make up the almost $3 billion DOE budget as stated in the 2017 financial audit.
This prompts the question, “Is the DOE adequately funded?” The truth is, we don’t know.
YOU can assist EIH with our efforts to produce a much-needed financial study that provides a detailed accounting of how the DOE’s budget is being spent. Please sign this petition asking the DOE Superintendent to provide access to the DOE’s general ledger data, which is PUBLIC information. EIH formally requested this data through the Freedom of Information Act, but the DOE has not provided this critical information.
Our goal is to produce a proven database tool that allows everyone to see how every education dollar is being spent. Understanding where the money is being spent will help build a public school system that makes the best use of the DOE budget at the school level.
We need your support to complete this financial study. Please sign this petition and together, we can build trust and transparency that will lead to empowering educators to create the excellent public education system our students deserve.
Mahalo for your support!
20 Comments
As a former teacher in Hawaii, I can't believe this data is being kept from the public.
My wife and I have paid taxes and supported dozens of teachers and attended hundreds of events over the years putting our 9 children through HI public schools and we want to know where our money was spent—all of it!
I have been following your organization's efforts to understand the DOE budget and am grateful for your work. I tried doing that several years ago and discovered expenditures that were not part of what was reported.
Mahalo EIH for this project. School empowerment isn't possible without first providing school-level financial transparency.
Thank you for this petition. I started asking the BOE for greater financial transparency in 2012 and got nowhere. Then, Governor Ige ran on a platform of more transparency in government, yet he has proceeded to do nothing about it since elected *and* to appoint members to the BOE who have no interest in greater transparency. Maybe this petition will make it happen. I doubt it, because the BOE does not do anything not required by law. So, write to your legislators, too! Mahalo.
As a charter school board member and chair for 3+ years, my view is that it is incumbent on our legislators and DOE budget pundits to stop hiding behind obscure and obtuse procedures. Let's clean it up so we all understand more clearly one fundamental question: How much of the DOE budget really reaches and serves our keiki?
Keep up the good work, Thank You!
I went to school in Hawaii and I know how behind we are compared to most schools. Anything in hopes for a better education system for our children in the future.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Petitions like this
Other petitions you might want to support
Scan to share
Anyone who scans this can sign the petition.
As a former teacher in Hawaii, I can't believe this data is being kept from the public.