Many state Capitol-watchers — even some of the Capitol players themselves — could have predicted this moment would come. Lawmakers are poised to postpone a law that requires more instructional time for public-school students. If the Senate version of House Bill 945 emerges intact from a conference committee, the mandate of a school year with more days and classroom hours would take effect in the 2014 school year, instead of the one coming up, a few months from now.

The reason, which is anything but surprising, is that there’s no money to pay for this.

Last year the Legislature, reeling from the public outcry over school furloughs, enacted a bill designed as a salve. It set minimum instruction time at 180 days, with 915 student instructional hours in elementary grades and 990 hours for secondary grades, eventually expanding to 190 days, totalling 1,080 hours on all campuses.

HB 945 originally sought only to add exemptions for "multitrack" schools, where students attend on staggered schedules in order to accommodate the large enrollments in limited classroom space. The multitrack calendars are already squeezed pretty tightly, so adding days and hours to their academic year proved practically impossible.

The financials of this plan were sketchy from the get-go. The state Department of Education estimates that it would cost $55 million — money the department didn’t have lying around last year and certainly doesn’t have now.

State Rep. Roy Takumi, House Education chairman, sees the writing on the wall but said he still hopes that labor negotiations may produce more flexibility for schools to change their bell schedules where possible, converting some paid non-instructional hours to the classroom. We also cling to this grown-up, practical solution to patch together more quality class time for students. It’s scant consolation but probably the best outcome possible in these lean times.

Lawmakers last year had dangled the minimum school-year length as an olive branch to frustrated parents, a political gesture more than anything. Instead, they set up the community for this year’s disappointment, proving the maxim that honesty can be the best policy, even for politicians.