HONOLULU -- Frustrated parents and residents went to a state Senate hearing on Friday afternoon to urge lawmakers and the Board of Education to find the money to restore some of the 34 school days to be lost in furloughs over two years.

Parents want lawmakers to release money to end the furloughs.

"We are really hoping they will come up with a solution to get our kids back in school immediately," Debbie Schatz said.

"It is getting more and more frustrating because our children should be in school. We need to have our children in school," Robin Polhemus said.

Inside the hearing there was a sparse crowd. State senators pressed the school board chairman to improve the situation.

"We cant get back what we lost, but maybe we can stem the loss of any further instructional days while the Legislature tries to work to a solution," Sen. Clarence Nishihara said.

BOE Chairman Garret Toguchi said it will cost $85 million in appropriations to offset the 17 furlough days this year. Parents have urged about 80 schools to change teacher planning days to instructional days to reduce lost school time, he said.

Many parents at the hearing are still hoping for a special legislative session to deal with the problem. They said a solution cannot wait.

"If we wait until January, eight days will already been taken away from our children. They will never get them back," parent Jo Curran said.

Senators said that everything is on the table to restore school days, including increasing the general excise tax 1 percent. Gov. Linda Lingle has said she would veto a measure to increase the GET.