Mediation ordered in
charter school trouble

The state wants to close Waters
of Life due to its large debts

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

HILO >> The state and financially troubled Waters of Life Charter School must engage in mediation in their dispute over whether the school should be closed, a judge ruled yesterday.

Circuit Judge Riki May Amano gave the parties until Dec. 31 to reach an agreement through mediation. If that fails, she will resume hearings Jan. 28-29 on closing the school.

The state wants to shut the school down because it is about $250,000 in the red, Deputy Attorney General Stephen Chang said. That is an increase from $170,000 a few weeks ago, and the deficit is still growing, he said.

Outside the courtroom, school Principal Truitt White said the problem is the creation of the Department of Education.

The amount represents money paid in salaries, White said. The Department of Education, not the school, writes the paychecks, and the department cut funding for pay, creating the shortfall, he said.

School attorney Thomas Tsuchiyama argued that the state's charter school law requires that a school with problems be given a one-year probation.

Chang said that applies only to schools that have halted the flow of red ink. One school held debt to $13,000, and two others stopped it at $41,000, he said.

Amano asked what the Department of Education did to remedy the problem, short of trying to close the school.

"I'm not quite sure," Chang answered.

People associated with Waters of Life believe the state wants to damage charter schools because they are seen as a threat to the status quo.

"The DOE puts nothing in writing other than what they stamp 'draft,'" White said. "Charter schools are jerked around, pillar to post."

He theorized that Waters of Life is more of a target because it was started from scratch, unlike most others, which began as "schools within a school."

Nina Buchanan of the University of Hawaii Charter School Resource Center said 23 of the state's 25 charter schools were assured of roughly $100,000 per year in federal funds for three years.

Waters of Life was one of two schools denied federal funds by the state, which administers the money, Buchanan said. White said he does not know the reason for the denial.