Hawaii public school officials are arguing for more money to restore state budget cuts, cover inflation, continue students’ academic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and insulate against coming “funding cliffs,” but some state legislators are pressing them to first trim spending on any obsolete and ineffective programs.

The state Department of Education in fiscal year 2022-2023 had its operating budget funded at $2.27 billion in state general funds. But for the 2023-2024 year, last year’s Legislature slashed more than 9%, bringing it to $2.06 billion. Gov. Josh Green gave the DOE $55 million from one-time discretionary funds granted by the Legislature.

But the public schools’ base budget in the second year of the biennium is even lower, at $2.03 billion in general funds.

So state schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi and other top DOE officials who have appeared before lawmakers at the state Capitol this month say that while they are grateful that Green in his latest budget request has asked to have the DOE’s base budget boosted by $111.57 million, the DOE is asking for $86.59 million on top of it.

That would still leave the total general fund budget for 2024-2025 short compared with the 2023 fiscal year, at $2.23 billion.

“While the federal pandemic recovery grants are ending, and other parts of federal funds are in jeopardy in Congress, it’s important that we have sustained investment to continue to make a difference and to continue that positive trajectory that our schools and communities are working so hard to achieve,” Hayashi told lawmakers in a joint briefing Thursday before the state Senate Ways and Means and Education committees.

Hayashi also pointed to test scores that suggest Hawaii’s public school students are outpacing most of the nation in recovering from pandemic learning loss. On the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, for instance, Hawaii scores held relatively steady in three out of four categories, declining significantly only in eighth grade math.

DOE officials have said the recovery has been fueled to a large degree by $639.51 million in three “buckets” of federal funding known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, often referred to as ESSER. The federal funding has funded school-level initiatives such as new after-school programs, tutoring and added staff.

But ESSER funding ends Sept. 30 for the Hawaii DOE, the only statewide public school system in the nation, supporting 167,649 students in 258 traditional public schools and 37 charter schools.

“An average of about $170 million a year is what these federal grants have provided to the department — which of course is going away, and thus the concern for the federal fiscal cliff,” said Brian Hallett, DOE assistant superintendent and chief financial officer.

But Sen. Donna Mercado Kim (D, Kalihi-Fort Shafter-Red Hill), vice chair of the Senate Education Committee and a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said she wants to see DOE officials take an approach of, “‘Where can we cut? Where can we be more efficient?’ Stuff like that, instead of just saying … ‘We hope that you just consider our full ask.’ Because everybody wants us to consider their full ask, and there’s no way we’re going to be able to do that.”

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz (D, Mililani-Wahiawa- Whitmore Village), chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, urged DOE officials to make it clear to the Legislature which programs have been phased out. “You don’t say, ‘These base programs that were added quite some time ago are no longer relevant or necessary. So let’s get rid of those programs and redirect those funds,’” Dela Cruz said. “Your presentation shows what you’re asking for but doesn’t show that you had any review of previous programs that should be cut.”

Hallett said a DOE committee that sets the public schools’ “weighted student formula” of funding does conduct such a review of programs, and completed one last summer. “The charge of the Committee on Weights is to review our entire budget and look for resources that are better allocated directly to schools,” he said.

The DOE is also asking for more money for capital improvements. The Legislature in 2023 approved $270.8 million for 2024-2025. The DOE requested an additional $273 million for the 2025 fiscal year, but Green’s $80 million budget proposal had few overlapping items, so the supplemental request now totals $355.8 million.