I think maybe if many of us had had financial literacy training a long time ago, uh we might be in better shape now. Thank you. The other question I've been asked to ask is if confirmed to the board of education, will you work with your fellow board members to establish a policy position on the banning of cell phones at our schools? You know, I've just heard about this one. Um and my first thought when I heard it was uh and it's been a issue since uh uh for for many years uh when cell phones first became popular in the schools uh teachers were telling me we need to ban it on our school because it's interfering with instruction and uh and a lot of it was um and my action my reaction at that time was let's see how we can use it to facilitate instruction.
Let's see. Um, but my first question when I thought of this is yes, how we we can ban it. How are we going to enforce that? What what what is the measure that we're going to use? The one thing and I don't know enough about those I the one thing that I do like about it is that if the DOE and the BOE take a stand with that in the school my assumption is it will be universal throughout the DOE. I'm big for consistency. I don't like that students at one school, especially if it's a rule, can do this and not at another. And then you have communities fighting with one another. So, I do like that part. I don't know enough about the followup to be really comfortable. Thank you, members.
Any questions? Thank you, Sylvia. Oh, thank you. We didn't beat you up, did we? We're saving it. You want to come back for round two? We're saving it for the next Okay. Is that all the testifiers? I think Okay, we are going on to GM775 Michael Magaw with the board of education. Thank you Mike for being here. Thank you Jim and Senator Committee. Please go ahead. Hi. Uh my name is Michael Muggle. I uh in the past I served in the house of representative uh representing district 45 which is a north shore from LA all the way to the Monte Kuna from 2000 to 2010. My my reason for wanting to be on the board is I want to bring a fresh face to the board uh because with my experience as electrical engineer and working with facilities building things and also with Catholic Charities as housing presidents we have been building a lot of homes for Catholic Charities for basically single rental.
We have already proven ourselves in uh Millia Moa. We have 200 units. Maui, we have Cahulu Lani 165 units and presently we're we're doing the uh all the uh AMB's old swap meet to build about family housing. reason I want to be because I seen what happened with the ledge and me as a as a past legislator, we kind of ticked off because when you bring the bacon home to your district, if it's not accomplish what you want to build or fix, especially when you talk to the schools, the principles and you want something to be done and especially when it's not being done and I just want to bring my fresh eyes and experience to assist and to see what is the pitfalls of our facilities. case cuz to me there's always a process. The question is is a process being followed? Are we having too many silos or are we communicating to the public?
Cuz you as legislators go out to the public because you out there getting what is required in the district to be done. If the DU is failed to do it, shame on them. The question is we have to provide the right answers. right now they're restructuring and like I said I bring fresh eyes to the uh if if confirmed uh to this organization because my philosophy in life is like when you planting a a rice field in a in a in a in a metal it grows as the kernels come up it slowly bends the older you get it bends more so I was saying to you guys with humility as we get older no matter what your vertical scale is you want to give back to the public because once we're gone And we want to make sure there is prosperity for as we continue on with the state of Hawaii because I have seen a lot of uh kids or grandkids of my generation or have gone away a lot and the question is that we have is you know when you grad from high school or college the first thing they ask you where's your experience you have no experience look at the nursing shortage I wish they would take train uh because my son is a nurse He he uh he was he graduated before the pandemic.
He couldn't get a job because everybody said where's your experience? So they go away. What I'm saying right now is that we have to provide a proper education cuz in other because when I mentioned that uh thing about the rice field because the chair of the holikipa we take care of all the runaway youths the kids that have been deprived because of their parents. No fault of them. We try to create a gem, a diamond and a rough to help them. Basically, what we trying to do is build a self-esteem because every kids have an opportunity. Look at the kid that student that graduate poo. She was a homeless couple years ago. She's a 4.0 homeless. She got a full scholarship at University of Hawaii. Now she's working at KIT as a production manager. What I'm saying that we cannot miss the opportunity. But for me in my role, I bring a fresh eyes, be open because I want to see what's wrong with our facilities because as engineers, you're very boring because we have a process we got to go through.
We have agency like the DPP permitting and we have to deal with the community. A lot of times if you don't you do your homework, do your due diligence, you're going to create havoc in the community if you're going to build. You cannot say because they provided funds, you're going to build, but have you talked to your community? Is there infrastructure in that area that you're going to build? And the question is you have funds will it lapse? Because I tell you it all two years if you guys give money it's not it's not going to happen because with what I do as engineer every project we have we have to do with the utility like Hawaiian Electric or Miko they two years before they can get their transport on board. So I'm saying that there's a process you have to go through. I'm not saying what we have is I well I take it back.
There's something wrong with us situation. All I want to do is provide as a new member just basically bring new fresh eyes and whatever experience I have. Thank you. Thank you Mike. Stay right there. Members questions. Hi Mike. Thank you so much for your uh willingness to serve. So I do have a few questions in looking at your resume um also and uh not to trigger the other nominee but uh with your resume I'm not really seeing um education background as well. I know that you had shared that you're an engineer. I grew up high school way back high school. By education you're talking about education. Yes. Education background background. You're talking about education background. Correct. Wo high school. No, no, I'm not talking about being a student. Okay. Sorry. I'm talking about actually either being a part of the administration, the staff. No, I have not.
Okay. I have not. Okay. Um, so which prompts me to my next question. I I just have serious concerns because um, how long were you serving on the board already? Which board? Board of Education. This is your I'm I'm say I'm a fresh eyes. Uh, I need to know the system like anything else. So you have to be do your due diligence before you do anything. So as I had asked the previous nominee um uh what would you necessarily be an expert in? Um you mentioned fresh eyes uh it would be mostly facilities looking at basically the structure what has happened why is it pro I mean projects are moving what's the hold up is it a permit or is it the lack of expertise or are we missing something or the commitment that we give to legislator what can happen you know okay it just the key is are we following up I don't know I'm just asking a question okay thank you um so with regards to the 2023 to 2029 uh strategic plan.
Uh what part of that facilities uh plan would you be able to contribute to fulfilling that plan? Priority number three. Okay. What about it? I mean it's basically regarding facility structure and basically what I'm looking at looking at that is I would go out and uh talk to the uh stakeholders principles on the town rural schools and neighbor island to get uh measurements as far as are we accomplishing what is required the desired outcome required in the strategic plan for number three if that correlates to number one and two so be it. I just need to know beside what you read because the key is reaching out to the the community. And you are a former uh house representative as well, right? Correct. So you know how to look at public records as far to see where the facilities are at right now as far as the conditions that it's in the monies that uh each school is asking for.
So even though you might not be at the table yet, there's ways to find out through public information on where the facilities are at now. Yeah, that is correct. Okay. So have you done any research according to that? uh being that you plan to spend a good amount of time being the expert in the facilities going to be able to start I will once confirmed. Okay. So you haven't really prepared for anything. I just wanted to hear from you based on your query of questions and answers based on what your expectation what you want from me or not because once we got I got a green light then I'll do that part as doing my due diligence. Okay. So you're the you're you're pretty much once I get the position then I'm going to do the work. Correct. Okay. Thank you, chair. Thank you. Um, forgive me.
I forgot to call our testifiers. Superintendent stay. Hello, Cherani, Vice Chair Kim, members of the committee. Keith Hayashi, superintendent, testifying on behalf of the Department of Education. The department stands on its written testimony in strong support of this measure. Mr. Mawa has extensive experience in public service, engineering, and education advocacy. um as an example, he is a long- serving member on the public schools of Hawaii Foundation and most recently uh was in support of our students uh served as a judge uh in um students projects, authentic based learning projects uh that that leverage artificial intelligence and technology. Um I'm I'm sure he will be definitely a strong supporter of public education. Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify. Thank you. Thank you. also to testify, Ryan Toyura. Ryan's not here. Anyone else here to testify on this measure? Thank you, members. Questions, maybe just a comment.
Yeah, sure. Uh thank you, chair, and and thank you for being here again. model for all you guys coming to uh volunteer for these positions which are extremely important um not only for the future of our kids um but also then all the teachers and administration basically what was said earlier the entire community um I appreciate um your background especially with facilities and maintenance that's something that I've always been barking about you know I represent Kotaku and Volcano on Hawaii Island uh some of the oldest schools in the entire state And it takes a lot for them to get upkeep. And uh especially, you know, neighbor islands taken care of by DAGs, you know, for the maintenance of these schools. And I'm not saying anything bad against them. They're fantastic. Uh just need a lot more resources to do all the different work that needs to be done.
Um, so I appreciate the your willingness and your background in this specific um uh in this in that specific um way because that's I mean you know we go back and all the money we've appropriated in the past, right? A lot of it has lapsed. Um, and so I know that there's a transition on trying to figure that all out right now and I hope that it will come to fruition on how we better manage, better prioritize all these different projects and make it equitable throughout the state, right? You know, um, representing some of the most rural communities, you never want them to be marginalized, especially, you know, the populations here on Aahu, the tax bases here in Aahu. We get that, but I mean, we we're trying to be build equity throughout the entire state. So, I I definitely would love you for you to get out there, go see some of these rural schools, go see some of these rural campuses that still need a lot of help, right?
And especially when it comes to maintenance and repair. So, I agree. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, uh, Mr. Mawai. I really appreciate you be being willing to serve on the um board because I I appreciate your knowledge of construction and [Music] um I think that the board could use someone with your expertise. But my question for you is would you say that maintenance and repair is equally important as the construction itself? Let me state it this way. construction is good depending on your specification. If you want to go cheap, you get you get the materials that's going to last you five years less than five. and and what it does if your specification is not tight or or I don't think the DU has a standard specification when you're building schools like materials what you going to use you know architecturally doors or anything else because what's the problem going to be is that whoever be take care of the maintenance they have to go to like a hardware store this is for od this is for dag this is for x y and z because they have to match the parts that you have so if the design is great your repair method should go down.
But right now, what I see with a lot of schools on the neighbor islands, the rural schools, they don't have the resources to fix it cuz they're not the squeaky wheel. They get it fixed. The guys who get fixed is more here on Aahu. So, they have a disadvantage because it's more like a band-aid approach. But I think for now, we need to look at what is the internal problem we have to correct that. I know they had problems in the fire alarm system. That's one thing. Is there others out there besides the fire up? Is there something with the plumbing or there's something with door hardware or whatever? So, we need to make assessment to answer your question um madam chair is it's a balance but the question is where are we looking at the projects because overall I think the rule schools and the neighbor islands will have a bigger budget on repair and maintenance versus the schools here and on a wall.
Thank you. question. Aloha, Mike. Um, I've served with you uh in the legislature and known you for a while. Certainly appreciate your experience in the construction area uh and facilities, but as a board member on BOE, that's not the only thing. I mean, there is a whole bunch of other areas. Plus, I don't know if if you recall, but um DAGs is the one that used to do all the facilities and so forth, right? And then that wasn't working. There are a lot of complaints about DAGs and so it got split up and so now it went over to not now, but it went over to DOE and on neighbor islands, it's not even with DOE, it's still with DAGs. So they do the repair and maintenance. Did you know that? I don't know because I was part of doing you where we split diwi from that.
I remember I didn't I didn't know about okay but knowing that you were coming here going back to senator the court's thing is that you know some some homework would have been helpful but yeah so they don't it's dags that do it so DOE had it and it didn't we had to create SFA not that I agreed with SFA but we have SFA and being that we have SFA so it's like who's going to run it now is it going to go back to BOE because you're you seem to be an expert in that or it's going to the F SFA. Now, there's already a riff and I'm going to talk about it. There's a riff between DOE and SFA and that's not helpful. And the way we're going to solve it is to put two voting members from DOE and the board onto SFA and now you come on.
I mean, I don't know what going on, but you know me, I'm direct and so are you. So, I you know, I think that you have to realize what's your role going to be as a board member, right? If you wanted to do facilities then you should have asked to be on SFA. Right. Right. Right. I agree what you're saying um waste Kim. I mean basically what I've been reading since I've been busy on my role as a engineer because my biggest project I have now is the Honolulu waste water treaty plant. It's a big project that carries all the libert side. What you're saying is correct. I didn't know about DAGs was handling neighbor islands. Okay. But what you're saying is since it was a part of the legislative to have the three entities right now we have to see where is the medium point I mean everybody want to take credit but the question is everybody taking credit nothing is done everybody's pointing fingers you going to have duplication of resources because when do we split from DAX the resources are duplicated to DOE now you have another entity you know I'm just saying that the collab spirit of collaboration got to be there yes that's what I'm saying so looking at that's what we have now.
So we can't go back and say that that's the situation and if the BOE and the DOE wants a vote to be a voting member and I always say be careful what you wish for because when there's going to be problem SFA I'm going to say you folks are on the board you have a vote now why is there still problems right? So, I'm I'm just cautioning as we move forward, but you seem to, you know, continue to talk about facilities and and construction and all of that, bringing fresh eyes. Well, it doesn't seem that fresh when you're so focused on on narrowly on one area that we already have SFA. Do you know how much money CIP money that is in the pipeline that has has been encumbered but not spent and projects that have not gone forward? Do you know how much money is that?