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The condition of Hawaii's public schools and whether the state's centralized governance structure was an obstacle to improvement were examined in this 1993 episode. Rod McPhee, president of Punahou School and a former public school superintendent, argued that Hawaii's system was effectively ungovernable: the legislature controlled education spending above both the Board of Education and the superintendent, and the proportion of the state budget allocated to schools had fallen by nearly half over twenty years. Karen Knudsen, a member of the Board of Education, acknowledged funding shortfalls and governance difficulties but maintained that Hawaii faced challenges shared by school systems nationwide, and was cautiously optimistic that the centralized structure could be made to work with the right priorities. Sharon Mahoe, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, pointed to deteriorating classroom conditions and an unmanageable counselor-to-student ratio as evidence of misplaced legislative priorities, while defending teachers' rights to due-process evaluation procedures. All three expressed doubt that the School Community Based Management initiative then under way was being adequately funded to succeed. Guests converged on the view that sustained public and parental pressure on the legislature was essential to change.
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