After two days of negotiations that initially appeared productive, talks between the teachers union and the governor's office collapsed with both sides unable to agree on how to end furloughs of public school teachers.

One of the main points of disagreement continues to be over requiring teachers to give up all of their planning days, beginning in January.

Gov. Linda Lingle proposed last month using $50 million from the state's rainy day fund to reduce furlough days by 12 and have teachers swap 15 planning days for furlough days. That would eliminate 27 furlough days — all furlough days from January forward.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association offered a proposal that would eliminate some of the furlough days, but not all, and would preserve some planning days, said Dwight Takeno, HSTA's interim executive director and chief negotiator.

Linda Smith, the governor's senior policy adviser, said teachers could keep all planning days as long as they also work on all the furlough days.

The union said that would result in teachers working for free.

"It is clear that $50 million cannot cover 27 furlough days. There must be an agreement to compromise. And so far, from this state administration, there is no compromise whatsoever. Unfortunately, we are back where we started from," Takeno said.

Smith said, "The joint DOE/BOE (Department of Education and Board of Education) administration bargaining team has made it clear that teachers can retain all of their planning days, if they so desire. We are simply asking them to come back into the classroom for 27 days and allow students to learn."

The two sides also dispute how much it costs to keep schools open for a day.

The union puts the cost at $5 million, and concludes that the $50 million from the rainy day fund could only restore 10 furlough days. Lingle says $50 million should be enough to restore 12 days.

The governor's plan only calls back "essential" teachers, meaning only regular classroom teachers, the union said.

The plan would not cover the salaries of health aides, educational assistants, office staff, security guards or cafeteria workers.

"All teachers are essential teachers. That is a very big stumbling block — trying to pit one group of teachers against another," HSTA president Wil Okabe said at a press conference.

No new talks are scheduled between the governor's negotiating team and the union.

$50M PLAN IN LIMBO

Without an agreement, the likelihood of a special legislative session to approve that use of $50 million from the rainy day fund is now slimmer.

Lawmakers have said they would only be willing to appropriate the $50 million if the union and the administration come to some kind of agreement.

Union officials also said they were concerned by recent figures presented by DOE budget officials to the state Board of Education that show that the governor's plan to restore furlough days would result in a $19.2 million shortfall for the public school system. That's because the $50 million would not cover operating costs for the planning days turned into instructional days.

Education officials have said that, to cover the shortfall, up to 2,500 12-month employees would be laid off and class sizes may have to be increased, resulting in a reduction of more than 400 non-tenured teachers.

"The governor's plan would leave the DOE $20 million short, which would result in the elimination of essential programs and required services for students, increase class size and result in layoffs of state employees," Okabe said. "The governor's plan significantly undermines the quality of education and jeopardizes the health and safety of Hawai'i's children."

Yesterday's talks began at about 8:30 a.m. and lasted about an hour, according to union officials, and resulted in the governor's representatives walking away from the table.

State BOE chairman Garrett Toguchi, in a news release, said negotiators from the BOE and Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto would continue to meet with the HSTA, even if the governor's negotiators would not.

If those talks prove fruitful, state lawmakers might convene a special session.

"As long as the parties can reach an agreement, there is a chance of a special session," said state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa.

A two-year contract between the state and the teachers union, agreed to earlier this year, calls for 34 furlough days for most teachers. Teachers have already taken six furlough days this school year and have another tomorrow.