State's children need funds to save schools

According to the Jan. 11 Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Hawaii's Department of Education is seeking $136 million more or each of the next two fiscal years.

Yet Gov. Cayetano wants to decrease that amount to $40.1 million in spite of the fact that $56.7 million is needed to comply with the federally mandated standards of the Felix Consent decree.

By decreasing those education funds by 70 percent, Cayetano is showing blatant disregard for students with special needs.

Moreover, he is crippling Hawaii's school system's efforts to improve our children's education. According to the Education Week magazine, Hawaii's educational standards have slipped from B in 1997 to D in 1999.

Even at the cost of present financial stress, we must continue to invest in our children's education. They are the only ones who can change Hawaii's unskilled labor-based economy.