Responding to pressure from a majority of state Senate Democrats, Senate President Colleen Hanabusa yesterday named a special committee to look at options to restore classroom instruction time lost to teacher furloughs.

The seven-member committee, led by state Sen. Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Mänoa, McCully), and state Sen. Will Espero, D-20th (Ewa Beach, Waipahu), will hold public meetings as soon as Friday. The committee is expected to make recommendations to the full Senate, including whether lawmakers should return in special session and tap the Hurricane Relief Fund, the rainy- day fund or raise taxes to bring back classroom instruction time.

Hanabusa, D-21st (Nänä-kuli, Mäkaha), cautioned against giving parents and educators false hope. Last week, Hanabusa, state House leaders and Gov. Linda Lingle downplayed the potential for a special session to address teacher furloughs, contending that education spending should be discussed next session in the larger context of the state's $1 billion budget deficit through June 2011.

Espero, however, collected signatures from 14 Senate Democrats calling for a special session, so Hanabusa and her aides worked over the weekend to arrange the special committee. A similar petition in the state House has 18 signatures.

Unless Lingle chooses to call lawmakers into special session, petitions by two-thirds of both the 25-member Senate and the 51-member House are required for a special session.

"I am proud that my colleagues are stepping up with a battery of ideas to solve the teacher furlough problem," Hanabusa said in a statement, "but every option raises questions. We need to look at not only whether money is available, but how we can ensure that any money we appropriate gets released by the governor and goes to education. We also need to answer some fundamental questions about whether any action we take will interfere with a collectively bargained agreement between the state, the (Department of Education), and the teachers' union."

Looking to reduce labor costs and help balance the budget, the state and the Hawaii State Teachers Association agreed to a two-year contract in September with 17 furlough days a year for 10-month teachers and 21 furlough days a year for 12-month teachers.

Espero, the special committee's vice chairman, said the options include using money from the state's Hurricane Relief Fund, the rainy- day fund, or a general-excise tax increase to keep schools open on furlough Fridays.

But lawmakers may not only have to find the money for teachers, but also for principals and other school personnel represented by the Hawaii Government Employees Association.

"The loss of seventeen classroom days is unacceptable and embarrassing," Espero said in a statement. "We have a responsibility to take action and address the situation for the sake of our children, and I believe we have the means to do so."

But Espero also said he does not believe the Senate would push for a special session unless the House, Lingle, the teachers union, the state Department of Education and the state Board of Education all agreed on a solution.

Several House lawmakers said they hope they can force the issue of a special session on House leaders, as Espero did in the Senate.

"We have options before us; let's act," said state Rep. Chris Lee, D-51st (Lanikai, Waimänalo), who is among those gathering signatures.

Yesterday, Dwight Takano, the interim executive director of the teachers union, said in an e-mail, "We are encouraged that the Senate is moving forward to address the furlough issue and is considering alternative funding sources to restore the education budget and instructional days."