Education board The state Board of Education gave the nod Thursday night to the last three of the 25 charter schools allowed by law, to the disappointment of supporters of Ka Lama Ku, the lone school that failed to make the final cut.
approves 3 charter
schools to hit
state cap of 25
But the proposed Ka Lama Ku
school was not approved
due to the state limitBy Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.comThe University of Hawaii Laboratory School, Ipu Ha'a Academy of Natural Sciences and Niihau School of Kekaha were unanimously approved by the board to be charter schools.
"Two years ago, we had two. Now we have 25," schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu said.
Unless a charter school closes or the Legislature raises the cap, no more schools will be chartered, LeMahieu said.
The happiness over the approval of the three new charter schools was offset by the bitterness expressed by those who supported the chartering of other schools.
In testimony, Libby Oshiyama, president of the Hawaii Association of Charter Schools, criticized the Department of Education and the school board for failing to provide the needed technical help to open and implement charter schools.
"It's really unfortunate that they were funded a significant amount of federal money ... and they haven't met the assistance and cooperation ... due on the state's end, whereas there were others who weren't funded but were moved along with much more assistance," said Keola Nakanishi of Halau Ku Mana, a new charter school.
Kamaileula Halualani-Hee, founder and chief executive officer for Ka Lama Ku, said she had been led to believe the school was being considered for charter. But the Department of Education specialist for charter schools informed her Monday that because they had not yet found a site, they could not go before the board for charter consideration.
However, that same day, Halualani-Hee received a call from someone at Kamehameha Schools with an offer for a site. Kamehameha Schools rushed a letter of commitment to the Department of Education.
"We were so excited," she said. "We thought, 'This is our chance.'"
But because of sunshine laws, they were denied from going before the board since there had not been enough time to be placed on the agenda.
Ka Lama Ku, a Hawaiian culture-based school in Hauula, received nearly $90,000 in federal funds for the exclusive use of implementing and designing the charter school.
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