The 140 public schools expecting to lose money next year under a new funding formula would get at least a one-year reprieve thanks to a $20 million infusion into the Department of Education budget.

The extra money would mean all of the 250-plus regular public schools will see more money than they expected after the DOE announced a few months ago that it would shift $3.3 million among the schools.

That earlier announcement caused an outcry from losing schools, some of which would have had their budgets slashed by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The state Board of Education already stepped in to minimize the impact by limiting gains and losses to 10 percent the first year, but this latest move by the Legislature eliminates the first round of losses completely.

"With this $20 million, none of them will lose, all of them will gain," said Rep. Roy Takumi, chairman of the House Education Committee.

The $20 million already has been included in the state budget, which is up for final approval on Tuesday, and lawmakers planned to release further details today on how it will be distributed to the schools.

POSITIONS SAVED

Principals reached yesterday were surprised and pleased at the news their schools are likely to receive more money than expected.

James Toyooka, principal of Lili'uokalani School in Kaimuki, said the extra money would keep him from having to cut a teaching position, a librarian, a part-time custodian and an aide — a total of $184,000 in cuts expected in the first year alone.

Without the extra money, "come next year we'll have one teacher per grade level with no support for them," Toyooka said.

He was surprised to hear about the possibility of keeping many of the nonclassroom, or what have been called "nonessential," positions.

"These are positions, whether at a big or small school, that are essential and you have to have them. You can't have one custodian do all the work. That would kill them," he said.

At Kalihi Elementary, principal Natalie Mun-Taketa said the extra money won't necessarily preserve the positions the school has planned to cut — one librarian, half a counseling position and half a student services coordinator position.

"I think most schools, just like ours, are preparing for next year based on what we actually have in hand," Mun-Taketa said. "Will it save the positions that are getting cut? It may or it may not."

The decision about what to cut will be based on the "direction the school is going," said Mun-Taketa. In all likelihood extra money may mean getting rid of the librarian position and creating another position that would help the school meet standards.

"We have standards in P.E., in music, in art that we would like to see met and there are no standards for the library in the report card," she said.

The weighted student funding formula was one of many issues lawmakers tackled as they rushed to meet today's deadline to get all bills ready for final reading on Tuesday. This session of the Legislature ends next week with just two more working days after today — one of them largely ceremonial — and decision-making on a number of substantive issues remains.

In addition to the $20 million, the budget committee also agreed on a $1 million transition fund that would allow schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto to deal with any unforeseen problems related to the formula.

"It gives our schools a chance to work through the transition," Hamamoto said.

The likeliest distribution of the $20 million includes "foundation grants" that would provide the minimum funding deemed necessary for a school to operate.

"At a high school level, at a middle school level, at an elementary school level, all schools need a certain amount of dollars to function," Takumi said.

FORMULA KICKS IN

After that, the weighted student formula would come into play and schools would get additional money based on demographics, with extra money targeted at students who need more resources, such as those who are disabled, disadvantaged or just learning to speak English.

Senate Education Chairman Norman Sakamoto said schools should not be sighing with relief over this new money, and principals should continue to prioritize their schools' needs.

"This isn't meant to make status quo. This is meant to give additional funds," he said. "Certainly each school should move forward instead of move backward in the first phase."

Today is day 58 of the session. There are two days remaining.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.