James Campbell High School wasn't built to hold thousands of students.

When Campbell first opened in 1962, it served a modest population of plantation families. Little did the state know that Ewa Beach would burgeon as part of Oahu's "second city" — a region that saw its population grow by nearly 19 percent between 2000 and 2010.

Campbell went from being Hawaii's 11th largest school in 2003 to the state's largest in 2009. And enrollment, now at 2,820 students, is still on the rise. Campbell's incoming freshman class is expected to be 50 percent larger than this year's graduating class.

The overcrowding — along with the Leeward side's hot temperatures and Campbell's lack of air conditioning — takes a heavy toll on student learning, teachers say. Class sizes easily top 35 kids, making it difficult for teachers to give each student adequate support and keep a check on student discipline and concentration.

This is how a good government bill dies at the Hawaii Legislature:

A measure supported by a majority of House and Senate members makes it through both chambers, but the two bodies can't agree on language.

Then, during the conference committee period at end of session — when the public cannot testify directly on proposed drafts to legislation — one chamber suggests changes to the bill that the other chamber doesn't like.

Such was the case of Senate Bill 66, which called for making public the financial disclosure statements of members of powerful state boards and commissions.

Hawaii journalists are decidedly unhappy with the latest version of the state shield law that protects reporters from having to reveal sources and turn over unpublished material.

Now, they just want it to die.

The compromise on House Bill 622 that House and Senate lawmakers reached Thursday excludes protections for bloggers and free news sources.

The conference draft also greatly expands the circumstances in which law enforcement can subpoena journalists’ notes and require reporters to reveal their sources.

• Visitor Spending Up In March Despite Shorter Stays
• Suspect Captured After Attempted Escape At Honolulu Courthouse
• New Tool For Researching Native Hawaiian Land Ownership and Historic Sites
• Suspicious Package Near Honolulu Courthouse Blown Up By Bomb Squad

• Army Makes Move Long-Sought By Inouye
• Schatz Opposes Chained CPI Reductions In Benefits
• Possible Schatz-Hanabusa Senate Race Gets National Attention

• Shield Law Bill Clears Committee, Ends Protections for Free News Sources
• Cash Call: Sen. Hee Holds Fundraiser During Session
• Funding for HGEA, HSTA, UPW Union Contract Agreements Approved
• Approved State Budget Would Fund New Kihei High School

I have trouble understanding the debate, even why there is a debate, over early learning in Hawai‘i. To those of us who see how a child’s future is so clearly determined by his or her early years, the case for early learning programs is solid.

Perhaps it is time for some harsh facts.

Who is more likely to end up needing the social service system—the child who had strong early learning opportunities, or the one that didn’t? Who is more likely to go to prison? To collect welfare benefits?