Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 11, 1 November 2005 — $4.4M boost to the Hawaiian focused public charter schools [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

$4.4M boost to the Hawaiian focused public charter schools

Dante Keala Carpenter TrustEE, O'ahu

Aloha kakou. On Oct. 6, 2005, the Board of Trustees approved and authorized its largest single appropriation

ever, calling for supplemental funding for 14 Hawaiian-focused publie charter schools. The board's action provides supplemental per-pupil funding to Hawaiian-focused charter schools up to a maximum of $2.2 million per year, in fiscal years 2006 and 2007. The per-pupil formula shall be based on the number of Native Hawaiian students enrolled. This proposal was prompted by significant, continued under-funding of puhlie charter schools by the state Legislature and the state Department of Education (DOE). The 14 Hawaiian-focused puhlie charter schools serve a predominantly Hawaiian student population of approximately 1,700 students. The 14 schools use instruction methods and materials based on Hawaiian values. Because of the restricted level of DOE funding, the approved OHA financial support will assist in the following areas and may be used to: (1) support educational programs, curriculum, teachers, staff; (2) renovate existing space with three-year lease/rental agreements; and (3) purchase vehicles for educational use. However, the OHA monies may not be used to: (1) purchase land; (2) build new buildings, (3) purchase existing buildings; nor (4) pay old or bad debts. Excerpts from a presentation by lim Shon, executive director of the Charter Schools Administrative Office, offered the following particulars as to why Hawaiian-focused charter schools needed additional support from the OHA: • The DOE is a system completely absorbed with its own series of major changes and cannot focus on the needs of Native Hawaiians in general nor the charter schools in particular. DOE is not funded in accordance with its own ambitious agenda. Additional education dollars will easily be absorbed by DOE in the near term. • There is no guarantee that the state Legislature will significantly change its view of "adequacy" for funding of charter schools. Should they choose again not to fully fund the formula, increased

enrollments will simply spread the appropriations thinner. In other words, the per-pupil funding for charters could actually decrease if the appropriation stays the same and enrollments continue to increase. • Hawai'i's charter schools are at a crucial time in their development. This is the year when many regulations and accountability measures will be enacted. The federal No Child Left Behind Act is catching up to the charters. We may see, for the first time, a school losing its charter by action of the BOE or out of internal collapse from sheer exhaustion. • Without OHA funding, Hawaiianfocused charter schools will continue to struggle to serve their students, parents and communities. Even with the current proposal, per pupil funding will be helow the "average" per pupil support in the DOE. The action taken by the OHA trustees seeks emergency stop-gap funding for a period of two years and directs OHA's education program staff to strongly advocate for appropriate and fair legislative and DOE funding for Hawaiian-focused charter schools. I look forward to the next legislative session and OHA's efforts to kōkua these schools. The road to getting this awesome proposal to the Board of Trustees was long and involved many participants. Within OHA, I especially would like to thank the Advisory Committee on Education's (ACE) members: Trustee Oswald Stender, Betty Ienkins and Puanani Wilhelm. Also providing their expertise in the education field, I extend a big mahalo to Education Lead Advocate Reshela DuPuis and former Education Officer Rona Rodenhurst. Also, a big mahalo to Sharlene ChunLum of Kamehameha Schools' Ho'olako Like Program for their funding support and the Native Hawaiian charter school hui, Nā Lei Na'auao. Earlier this year the ACE committee took on the task of reviewing the draft action item for the Hawaiian-focused charter schools, and we are ecstatic over its successful approval. As always, my staff and I invite your conunents on the above or any other eoncerns within our purview. My OHA access numbers are: phone, 594-1854; fax, 5940210; and e-mail address, dantec@oha. org. Mālama pono, a hui hou. E2

— LEO 'ELELE • TRUSTEE M ESSAG ES