Originally prepared for "The Level Playing Field," a special presentation of The Koolau News. This piece was published Sunday, Aug. 4 (Week 1 of 7).

Being born and raised in Windward Oahu, I care deeply about our community and its people, and I believe the best way to uplift our community is to make some desperately needed changes. The vision driving us to a brighter future can only be one of all of us pulling together, using our talents, and controlling our destiny.

We all know our education system is broken; our government leaders are unresponsive and shy from action and accountability; and our economy is appallingly stagnant given all that Hawaii has to offer. The time has come and we must start now � the only way Hawaii can move forward is to aggressively diversify our economy, provide our keiki with the education they deserve, and ensure that the government works for the people. As your senator, I will dedicate my efforts to realize these reforms.

I am proud of the fact that I am the product of both public and private education in Hawaii. I began my education at Benjamin Parker Elementary School in Kane`ohe, before attending St. Andrews Priory in Honolulu. After receiving my Bachelor�s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, I began my professional career working as a Legislative Aide in the Hawaii State Senate, where I spent five years learning the inner, daily workings of the Legislature. From 1994 until 2001, I worked as the Executive Assistant to the Secretary General of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, an international trade organization based here in Hawaii. However, my real passion was to work for the people of our community at the Legislature, so in 2001, I returned to state government as a Republican Caucus Aide in the House of Representatives.

Working in the halls of our government, I know firsthand just how badly change is needed. We need the courage to embrace a new and far-reaching vision, and to rely on ourselves and our own skills to push things forward rather than settling for riding the momentum of a bloated, status-quo machine. The only vision that can drive us to a brighter future is one in which all of us pull together, drawing on our talents and our faith in the vast, untapped potential of Hawaii�s people and create a better future for Hawaii.

Our first step must be to reform our broken education system. We simply have to break up Hawaii�s single, bloated school bureaucracy and create independent, local school districts. Local needs are best met by local control, which can only be achieved through local school districts. Our children deserve better than they have been getting from the top-down running of Hawaii�s beleaguered schools. It is amazing how much our keiki can do with so little, but I firmly believe that they could achieve more with the right support behind them and their teachers. I strongly believe in this and will fight for the quality education our children deserve.

But we cannot stop at reforming our school system. We must reform the way our government works. For too long the government of Hawaii has forgotten how it is supposed to work - government is not the people�s master, but their servant. We must change the current relationship between the government and the citizens of Hawaii. Our government must become more efficient and more accountable, worthy of the people�s trust. The state must also work to create an environment in which businesses thrive and naturally broaden opportunities for everyone and bolster our overall economy, rather than saddling them with a multitude of regulations and sucking them dry with taxes.

I hope you share my desire for quality education, a trustworthy government, and a stronger more diverse economy in Hawaii. I promise I will be tireless in working to create a better, brighter, stronger Hawaii for us all. Please visit my website at www.lacene.com for more information.