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🚨 Hawaii DOE’s $83,220 Ransom for Public Records: An Unacceptable Assault on Transparency and Fiscal Responsibility 🚨 In an era when artificial intelligence and cloud computing make data retrieval instantaneous, the Hawaii Department of Education’s demand for $83,220 from a single parent seeking basic Title IX equity records is nothing short of indefensible. It is a glaring symptom of systemic obsolescence and a profound betrayal of public trust. 🔍
A Five-Figure Fee for Information That Should Be One Click Away Lauralee Pierce, a Kahuku High School parent, submitted a routine public-records request for three years of athletic budgets, reimbursements, and resource-allocation policies at her daughter’s school. The DOE’s response: fulfillment would require 4,161 hours—the equivalent of two full-time employees working for two years—at a cost of $83,220. T
his is not a reasonable processing fee; it is an effective denial of access. The department openly admits the records require “manual review,” confirming the absence of any modern, centralized, searchable database despite an annual operating budget exceeding $3 billion. ⚖️ T
he 2023 ACLU Settlement: A Binding Mandate for Equity That Remains Unfulfilled In October 2023, following the landmark class-act lawsuit A.B. v. Hawaii State Department of Education, the DOE entered a seven-year consent decree to remedy decades of documented Title IX violations at James Campbell High School and statewide. Female athletes had been forced to change clothes behind bleachers or in a nearby Burger King while male athletes enjoyed proper locker rooms.
The settlement required, among other measures: • Independent annual evaluations and public reporting • $60+ million in facility upgrades • Comprehensive training and a public complaint portal • Robust data collection on participation and resource equity Two years later, the department cannot produce basic spending data without demanding a small fortune. This is not oversight; it is obstruction. 💸 Fiscal Irresponsibility on Full Display: T
he $120 Million Solar-Powered Fiasco Under former Governor David Ige, the DOE was explicitly prohibited from installing conventional air-conditioning and instead mandated complex, unproven solar-battery systems to advance the 2045 “100% renewable” agenda. The 2025 State Auditor’s follow-up report (No. 25-09) is damning: • $105–$120 million spent to cool only 838 classrooms •
Average cost per classroom: $125,000–$150,000 • Systems routinely operated fewer than five hours per day, failed in shade, and required millions more in repairs When pressed on this staggering waste by a tax payer, a government official offered only: “We had good intentions.” Good intentions do not justify squandering nine-figure sums of taxpayer money on ideological experiments that left children sweltering in classrooms for nearly a decade. 📊 Rewarding Failure: An 18% Raise for the Superintendent In November 2025, the Board of Education awarded Superintendent Keith Hayashi an 18% salary increase, elevating his compensation from $249,600 to $294,674 beginning in 2026—with escalators that could exceed $400,000 by 2029.
This now surpasses the Governor’s salary, granted to the leader of a department that: • Cannot retrieve three years of athletic spending records without years of manual labor • Defends $120 million in documented waste with vague appeals to “good intentions” • Erects financial barriers to basic public oversight 🛑 This Is Not Mere Inefficiency—It Is a Breach of Public Duty Annual financial audits consistently cite weak internal controls, poor record-keeping, and wasteful expenditure—the precise failures that make a simple records request cost $83,000 and allow ideological projects to burn through nine figures.
🔥 Conclusion: The Time for Excuses Has Ended 🔥 Hawaii taxpayers fund one of the nation’s largest single-district school systems. They deserve leadership that delivers transparency, fiscal discipline, and results—not barriers, waste, and platitudes about “good intentions.” Immediate Remedies Required:
1 Waive Ms. Pierce’s fee in its entirety and release the requested records at no cost. 2 Mandate complete digitization and public online access to all athletic and financial equity data by December 31, 2026. 3 Commission an independent forensic review of DOE record-keeping systems. 4 Freeze all executive compensation increases until transparency and accountability are fully restored.
5 Prohibit future procurement decisions driven solely by ideological mandates rather than proven performance and cost-effectiveness. 6 Enforce every provision of the 2023 ACLU settlement with rigorous, independent oversight. The people of Hawaii expect—and are entitled to—far better. #HawaiiDOE #TitleIX #FiscalAccountability #PublicTransparency #EducationReform Sources: • Civil Beat (November 2025): “Hawai‘i DOE Wants $83,000 To Provide Data On Gender Equity In Schools” • ACLU of Hawai‘i Settlement Agreement (October 2023) • State Auditor Report No. 25-09 (August 2025) – Heat Abatement Follow-Up • Board of Education Meeting Minutes (November 2025) – Superintendent Compensation • Act 47 (2016) & Hawaii Revised Statutes §196-41 (Clean Energy Initiative) https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/11/hawaii-doe-wants-83000-to-provide-data-on-gender-equity-in-schools/