It's officially the holiday season, which is probably a good time to assume the best intentions of the people guiding the public schools system through its budgetary crisis.

However, even the best intentions mean little if these people fail to get results in short order.

Here's what the general public sees:

• Gov. Linda Lingle has proposed a combination of spending rainy-day funds and converting so-called teacher "waiver" days to classroom use. This, she said, would restore much of the academic calendar to students hurt by the loss of instruction on furlough days set in the current teachers' contract.

• Officials of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, now in talks about revising that contract, say they don't like key parts of Lingle's plan, especially the potential loss of all those waiver days, which are used for planning.

The public can't be blamed if the first phrase that comes to mind is: "Here we go again." It does sound like the lines of opposition are hardening.

That can't be allowed to happen. Taxpayers waited many months for the collaborative solution to the state's critical funding shortage, and very little has emerged.

At least the administration and HSTA produced and ratified a contract settlement. Two other public-employee unions — United Public Workers and the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly — remain at odds with the state.

But now even this small oasis of accord is starting to evaporate. After being pelted with national criticism over the use of furlough days to rein in the costs of operating the schools, both sides are looking to rebroker the deal. So far the process is moving haltingly — which isn't much help in salvaging the reputation of Hawai'i schools either.

The administration maintains that the teachers should give up the non-instructional days — time allotted for various planning, training and collaborative work — to restore some teaching time. There should be willingness to yield some days, in the interest of helping to close a widening fiscal gap.

However, teachers are right to counter that these days can be exceedingly important, especially for schools in the midst of restructuring under No Child Left Behind. That federal law mandates that schools falling short of performance standards reorganize to achieve improvement.

Additionally, the governor's staff has concluded that some of the restored classroom days could be run with a skeleton crew of "essential" workers.

Some teachers don't want to sacrifice the assistance of classroom aides and other campus support staffers, and want more details about how the state intends to pay for everything.

Surely there's room for compromise between these two positions.

The governor needs to consider alternative approaches to funding the furlough buyback plan. Teachers should accept the fact that it won't be situation-normal for the coming difficult fiscal years.

And time is at a premium. The longer this drags out, the worse it will get, with tax revenue coming in below projections every month.

So in the spirit of the season, the public should have two things to say to the negotiators trying to strike a deal.

Happy holidays.

And get back to work.