JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM All 150 students of Voyager Charter School were at an assembly yesterday to hear Gov. Linda Lingle speak and sign a bill that provides for more equitable funding for charter schools.

Easing the burden

The governor signs a bill that gives
a financial boost to charter schools

Thanking Hawaii charter schools for their "monumental struggle," Gov. Linda Lingle signed into law yesterday a bill that lifts some of the budgetary and operational pressures the schools have wrestled with for years.

"You've been shortchanged from the beginning. ... This is a way for Hawaii to recognize you for sticking with it," Lingle said.

The bill provides for more equitable funding for charter schools and frees schools from having to provide for collective-bargaining pay increases. It also grants school employees full participation in the state's retirement, health insurance and fringe benefit plans.

"It's a good step forward, but we still have a ways to go," said Sue Dueber, principal of the Voyager Charter School, where the bill-signing took place.

Dueber said funding for charter schools -- public schools that enjoy autonomy on curricula and operational issues -- is still inadequate, forcing parents to chip in and schools to spend time fund raising.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Yesterday's bill-signing ceremony included a performance by the Voyager Ukulele Team.

The 2005-07 state budget allocates about $32 million in each of the next two years to the charter school network, up from $28 million this session but still less than hoped for.

"It's still going to be a challenge to provide for our students," Dueber said.

Charter schools receive about half the per-pupil funding that traditional public schools do.

Not included in those budget figures, however, is the lifting of the burden of collective bargaining and fringe benefits.

That change is worth an estimated $9 million to $10 million to the charter school network over the next two years, said Jim Shon, executive director of the Charter School Administrative Office.

Despite the funding difficulties, Shon said more schools are looking at converting to charter school status, possibly by the fall of 2006. These include schools that have been singled out for restructuring due to persistent poor student performance.

Federal law provides for conversion to charter school status as an alternative to restructuring.