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Ed board wants
flexibility for
charter schools

Provisional charters would
give time to settle facility and
organizational details

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By Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin

A group trying to establish a charter school would have more time to get its act together under a law change proposed by the state Board of Education.

Board members approved language last night that allows them to issue a provisional charter in a case where details about facilities and organization have not been settled by the deadline in the law.

Underlining the need for flexibility in overseeing the innovative schools was testimony last night from supporters of a Big Island charter school under investigation by county authorities over alleged building and health code violations. Waters of Life school in Puna is one of the six charter schools that have opened since the 1999 New Century Charter Schools legislation.

The board hopes to get its proposal into a bill before the Legislature, along with language providing for an annual board review of each charter school.

Libby Oshiyama, president of the Hawaii Association of Charter Schools, said the provisional charter would be helpful for school planners who face problems such as securing a lease "without that piece of paper that says we have official status."

The language would fine-tune the law that opened up the opportunity for alternatives within the public school system. The education reform system in effect in 36 other states aims to provide learning environments for students who do not succeed in a traditional classroom. The Hawaii law set a limit of 25 charter schools; 11 have been approved so far.

Sue Garry, with two disabled children in Waters of Life school, said "it's the first time they have been healthy and happy and academically growing." She said the school's special-education program, which gives one-on-one attention to five youngsters, "is a model for the special-needs movement."

Board Chairman Herbert Watanabe noted that the problems the school faces are not with the board, but with county officials.