Senate calls for continuation of Lahainaluna boarding program

The Senate has adopted a concurrent resolution calling for the continuation of the boarding program at Lahainaluna High School, despite a Department of Education proposal to eliminate the program as part of its budget reduction.

“This is a point where budget cuts really hit the community hard,” said Senator J. Kalani English. “Lahainaluna Boarding is a unique program, the only one of its kind in our public schools, offering students from rural areas a chance to excel in a different environment. It has a long history of success, and we can’t just give up on it.”

Senator Shan Tsutsui agrees that the legislature, governor and DOE should make an extra effort to preserve the program. “We know everyone has to make sacrifices, but this is a case where we need to look at all the impacts and all the alternatives before we make the proposed cut. Can we make up the cost some other way, and is the cost to the students too high? It’s definitely worth examining the possibilities.”

SCR 6 states that “the Lahainaluna High School boarding program allows students from neighbor islands and other areas of Maui to live in dormitories and attend the school in exchange for reasonable custodial and maintenance work on school grounds,” and “provides opportunities for students to grow and mature.” It requests that the DOE convene a Lahainaluna Boarding Program Working Group.

The Working group would:

    *  Evaluate the true cost of the boarding program

    *  Determine the cost savings, if any, by having the boarding program students continue to assist with routine repair and maintenance work on the school’s campus

    *  Explore public and private partnerships to continue the boarding program
    *  Explore changes to the current rate structure for resident and non-resident boarding students and the potential impacts those changes might have on the boarding program

The group would report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2011 Regular Session.

English and Tsutsui, who both serve on the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee, led the effort to amended SCR6 to include the call for the Lahainaluna Working Group.

Concurrent resolutions must be adopted by both the Senate and the House of Representatives; SCR6 has been sent to the House of Representatives for approval.