Public school principals and educators speculated yesterday about how to prevent 17 teacher furlough days from adversely affecting student instruction time.

The HSTA, the union representing more than 13,000 teachers, announced Monday that it had reached a tentative contract agreement with the state Department of Education and the state Board of Education.

The agreement needs Gov. Linda Lingle's approval, and as of last night, she was still reviewing it, said Russell Pang, spokesman for the governor.

The new contract would furlough most teachers for 17 days, according to sources close to the talks.

Officials have several options to prevent the loss of instruction days, including scheduling furlough days on holidays or making use of teacher planning days, commonly referred to as "waiver days."

Under the current contract, teachers receive 13 paid holidays and schools get four waiver days — days students do not report to school — that can be scheduled at the discretion of the principals, which totals 17 days.

"Some principals are considering giving back or not using their professional collaboration and waiver days," said Gerald Teramae, principal of Kalani High School.

Teramae said that schools have not received any guidance from the state Department of Education about how furlough days, if any, will be implemented.

"What happens at this point really is contingent upon what comes down from the superintendent, or the board leadership. Are they going to take those furloughs on vacation time or holidays? We don't know yet," Teramae said.

In June, following the governor's announcement of her original furlough plan, Board of Education Chairman Garrett Toguchi said that using the 13 paid holidays as furlough days would be an option. He was not willing yesterday to say whether that was the final plan agreed upon.

"As we've talked about from the very beginning, there is no way this kind of budget cut is not going to adversely affect us, whether it's school days or operational days," Toguchi said.

"There isn't enough nonschool-type days to accommodate the kind of budget impact that we're talking about. Whether we like it or not, there is going to be a negative impact on school days."

'LESS LEARNING TIME'

Justin Mew, principal at Niu Valley Middle School, said if the 17 furlough days are all taken from instruction days, teachers would have a tough time sufficiently covering their class material.

"If we are looking at two to three days a month, we'd have to subtract that from the number of minutes spent preparing students from the Hawaii State Assessment," Mew said.

The HSA is used as a key measurement to determine whether schools are making adequate progress under No Child Left Behind.

"It'll mean less learning time to get ready. So when the results come out in 2010, there might need to be an asterisk next to it. Schools that don't make (their goals), it may not be indicative of the efforts being made," Mew said.

Lingle does not have authority to order furloughs for teachers because public education is governed by an independent school board. But the governor has imposed spending restrictions on public schools to reduce costs and help close an estimated $884 million budget deficit through June 2011. The school board in July agreed to $227 million in budget cuts, including $117 million from potential labor savings pending contract talks.

190-DAY WORK YEAR

Teachers on 10-month schedules work 190 days a year, including 180 days spent with students in the classroom.

Officials were unwilling to calculate what the furlough days equate to in terms of a pay cut. The average beginning teacher with a bachelor's degree earns about $43,157 a year, according to the DOE's 2009-10 salary schedule.

Teri Tanaka, spokeswoman for the Hawaii State Teachers Association, and HSTA President Wil Okabe did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment.