Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 3, 1 March 2009 — Charter schools deserve more state funds [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Charter schools deserve more state funds

Submitted by Alapaki Nahale'a, President, Hawai'i Charter School Network. This pieee was a coHaboration of many in the charter school community. Families are making it clear that ehoiee in our school system is attractive, increasingly electing to enroll their cliildren in Hawa'i's 31 charter schools. These legislatively approved pubhc schools are govemed by independent loeal school boards made up of parents, teachers, staff, shidents and community members. From 2006 to 2008, charter schools saw a 30.8 percent growth in enrolhiient. Today, charter schools are educating some 7,600 students. Enrolhiient is expected to reach 8,488 in 2009. The demand for these schools is evident in their wait hsts, some numbering in the hundreds. hinovations, a charter school located in Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i, has a wait hst twice as big as its enrolhiient (300-plus). Ka Waihona

'0 Ka Na'auao charter school in Nānākuh, O'ahu, has a wait hst that numbers nearly 400. But this successful initiative by the Legislature to create innovative, communitybased quahty educational models may be at risk. The state's budget shortfall is pressuring all state departaients to slash their budgets. Wliile charter schools should not be immune from the current financial sihiation, what many do not understand is that charter schools are not funded hke any other department. Charter schools only receive funding for the students they serve and have consistently received fewer dollars per student than other pubhc schools. Furthermore, charters aheady took a serious financial hit this year, losing $700 per student, an 8.8 percent cut. To offset these impacts, charters have cut teacher or staff positions and hmited the purchase of materials and computers. In some cases, expansion plans have been put on hold indefinitely. Further reductions in funding would be disastrous to charters who have aheady tightened their belts to deal with a problematic funding situation. Tliis budget cycle, charter schools are staring straight into the face of a bleak eeonomie forecast, yet they are asking for a 28.6 percent

increase - $74.1 milhon total for the 2009-10 school year. Tliis isn't some lunatic move by charters. State law requires the charter school administration to submit a budget based on estimated enrolhiient so that they ean properly serve their shidents. Enrollment has grown, so the budget is higher. Funding has long been an issue with charter schools who beheve the money should fohow the child. The issue is clouded by the Department of Education's comphcated budget, unclear terminology, "shared" resources and timing of federal funding. According to a report in The Honolulu Advertiser , state Rep. Roy Takumi, ehaimian of the House Education Committee, said that charters have legitimate concerns about the way they are funded. Of particular eoneeni are facihties. Unhke other pubhc schools, whieh get separate facilities support, start-up charter schools must find, pay for and maintain their facihties out of their annual per-pupil allotment. Schools spend several thousand dollars a month on rent and utihties. When charter schools were first approved, facihties and maintenance funding were at issue, yet remained absent in the overall funding process. Some early thinking was that charter schools could raise the funds from private and other sources. But many charter schools are located in rural and/or lower socioeconomic areas making fundraising an unrehable alternative.

Developing a funding formula that is transparent and fair is the answer and also the challenge. The debate will certainly continue in this legislative session. So is the fuss worth it? We have to remember why charter schools were created in the first plaee. Charter founders and advocates identified a need to address the overall educational system and to empower its students and famihes to take on the responsibihty of how education should be offered today. They looked at the laek of eommunity involvement in pubhc education from a grassroots level and felt one of the guiding principles should be a vested interest in the education of children. Along with this was the desire to assist children who were especially in need due to lower socioeconomic situations. Tliere are four charter schools on Kaua'i, one eaeh on Maui and Moloka'i, and 13 on Hawai'i Island. Six charters are located in urban Honolulu, tliree in Windward O'ahu, and tliree in Leeward O'ahu. Tlie majority of Hawai'i's charter schools are located in rural commmiities. Charter schools involve students in projectbased, hands-on and student-centered learning. Many of these schools also add native culture and sense of plaee elements that ean help students of any cultural background thrive. In all charter schools, a high degree of parental involvement is expected. All are See STENDER on pags 28

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accountable for student results via the Hawai'i State Assessment, but - many are also designed to dehver programs tailored to educational excellence in the context of needs

within the communities they serve. Of the 31 puhhe charter schools in Hawai'i, just over half (17) are Hawaiian culture-based. Others have strong art and science components and two are virtual hybrid schools. Tlie culturally based schools serve approximately 3,500 students, 88 percent of whom are of Nahve Hawaiian ancestry. These schools also serve a high proporhon of socioecononhcally and educationahy disadvantaged children and are more hkely than their counterparts in other puhhe schools to have students who hve in "at-risk" conditions. Recent research shows that students with low test scores in Hawaiianfocused charter schools are more hkely to improve their reading and math proficiency between third and fourth grades and eighth to tenth grades than their counterparts in puhhe schools. Other research shows that students in Hawaiian-focused charter schools are more hkely to show strength of character, feel a greater eonneehon to school, demonstrate caring for others, and show honesty and responsibihty compared to nahonal benchmarks. Charter school students overall are more hkely to prachce environmental stewardship, be engaged in school and have a greater expectahon to attend cohege than their counterparts in other puhhe schools. The majority of schools report liigh attendance rates in the 95 percent range. Tliese results demonstrate that the fuss is worth it and that puhhe charter schools are beneficial to students, their parents and our state. They enhanee well-being, engage family involvement and contribute to the eeonomie sustainabihty of communities. They also graduate citizens like Emalani Case, whose experience at Kanu o ka 'Āina led her to heeome the effechve teacher she is today. Yes, we have a financial crisis, and we all must pull together to ride out the storm. However, cuthng back on success in puhhe education is not the answer. Tlie only way for Hawai'i to achieve a vibrant future is to ensure that we have an educated populahon. Hawai'i's charter schools are helping us reahze that future. Let's not tum our backs on progress now, precisely when we need it the most. S