It is unlikely that an agreement to end public school teacher furloughs will be reached in time to prevent the next "furlough Friday" on Jan. 8, a goal Gov. Linda Lingle had set when she proposed her plan last month.

Twenty-seven teacher furloughs days remain in the two-year Hawaii State Teachers Association contract, portions of which were under renegotiation until the governor's representatives ended talks last week.

Negotiations continue between the HSTA and education officials, but even they say an agreement by January is beginning to look more and more unlikely.

The January deadline in negotiations was important for state lawmakers, who have said they would be willing to return in a special Legislature session to appropriate $50 million from the state's rainy-day fund. State House and Senate leaders said they needed an agreement by the end of December to hold a special session. The $50 million would have been enough to retire 12 furlough Fridays, under the governor's proposal.

Lawmakers now say a special session looks doubtful.

"We do support a special session, but only after the negotiating parties come to an agreement," said House Speaker Calvin Say. "It does look a little bleak. But I'm hoping, for my Christmas present, there is an agreement."

Linda Smith, senior policy adviser for Lingle, said the governor set an original goal of January to give the Legislature time to meet in special session before the start of the regular session on Jan. 20.

"That was our hope when the governor put her original plan together, to get the children back in the classroom beginning in January," Smith said.

Some lawmakers sought to make the decision about the rainy-day fund in special session because it would have been easier to tap into the money for public schools. In regular session, the Senate Ways and Means Committee and House Finance Committee are more likely to be overwhelmed by competing requests for the money.

Rep. Roy Takumi, chairman of the House Education Committee, said that even if an agreement between the state and HSTA occurs after the beginning of the year, lawmakers will still be able to set aside money to fund the restoration of furloughs.

"I don't believe there will be a special session," Takumi said. "The rainy-day fund, the hurricane fund, a combinations of funds, increasing fees ... all are still on the table in the regular session. If they come to an agreement that is in the best interest of our children ... I think, speaking for myself, there is an obligation to fund whatever they come up with."

Talks between the state Board of Education, Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto and the HSTA are expected to resume today, said Garrett Toguchi, BOE chairman.

"I'm optimistic that there could be an agreement. Whether or not we can come to an agreement by the time the clock runs out, that I don't know," he said.

Toguchi said he would have preferred an agreement in time for a special session because it would have fast-tracked the $50 million rainy-day appropriation. The legislative process in the regular session takes much longer, he said.

"The problem with a regular sessions is every week that goes by, we forgo that many furlough days," he said.

Toguchi said it is possible that the union and the education department could come to an agreement that does not require the governor's signature.

If a compromise is reached to amend the contract's supplemental agreement on furloughs, Lingle would not need to approve the plan. However, if the agreement requires a ratification vote by union members, the governor would need to sign off on the agreement.

Lingle on Nov. 15 recommended eliminating 27 of the 34 furlough days in the HSTA's two-year contract by using the rainy-day fund to cover 12 furlough days, while teachers would agree to give up noninstructional days to restore classroom time and erase 15 furlough days.

Both sides last week were unable to agree how to restore furlough days, mainly because union and Department of Education officials say they are worried that Lingle's plan, by their tally, was $19.3 million short of what it would cost to restore 27 furlough days. That's even if teachers were to swap their planning days, without additional pay, as the governor has suggested.

They fear restoring furlough days, and the $19 million shortage, would result in layoffs of 2,500 full-time employees, an increase in class sizes and loss of programs.

The teachers union has also expressed concern about giving up their roughly 10 yearly planning days.