DOE has budget cuts reduced
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii Gov. David Ige has told the state Department of Education that its budget cuts would be reduced by about $123 million because of additional federal funds and more optimistic revenue projections.
The state agency learned of the news on Thursday.
The Department of Education had been expected to reduce its overall budget by about 10% — that figure has been reduced to about 2.5%.
A 10% budget cut could have resulted in the loss of almost 1,000 department positions, including about 800 teachers, special education teachers, librarians and counselors.
It also would have cut many physical education, art and robotics programs, among others.
Corey Rosenlee, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said that even with the decision, about 700 teachers could still be laid off.
Hawaii Department of Education Superintendent Christina Kishimoto in a statement thanked the governor and the Department of Budget and Finance for their decision.
About 20% of all parking tickets since 2015 unpaid
HONOLULU (AP) — About 20% of all parking tickets issued in Hawaii over the last five years have gone unpaid, amounting to a total of nearly $11 million in uncollected fines, according to state records.
The main offenders for the unpaid fines are rental car companies, Hawaii News Now reported Thursday.
EAN Holdings, which does business as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, owes more than $32,000 in unpaid parking tickets, state documents show.
Hertz Vehicles owes $23,860 and another $40,335 is outstanding from other local rental car companies.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car told Hawaii News Now in a statement that the company did not know it owed more than $30,000 in fines and is now in the process of paying its unpaid tickets.
A spokesperson from Hertz said the company was looking into the issue but did not respond to other questions, Hawaii News Now reported.
Thousands of other tickets cannot be traced to anyone because of data entry mistakes, bad handwriting and other issues. About $7 million worth of unpaid tickets cannot be traced.
There were almost 780,000 parking tickets issued in the state between January 2015 and August 2020, with about 172,000 still unpaid.