New schools stretch budget

Opening new charter schools would mean less money for all

A new panel charged with approving charter schools is busily doing so despite a glaring budget shortfall.

The result is that any new schools will mean less money for all, Board of Education members say.

"After the pot of money is set, as you add more schools, they're dividing up the pie into more pieces," BOE member Breene Harimoto said yesterday.

The Legislature slashed $1.5 million for operational funds for the three new startups requested in a proposed budget, said Maunalei Love, interim executive director of the Department of Education's Charter Schools Administrative Office.

There are currently about 6,200 students enrolled in charter schools, and that number could grow by 300 or more if the new schools are approved.

The latest addition is Kamaile Elementary School on the Waianae Coast, approved Wednesday by the panel, but it is a DOE conversion school, meaning it will use existing DOE facilities.

Planned charter schools might lack funding

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Even though a new review panel is looking to fill slots for up to three new public charter schools, those schools could be scraping the existing pot for money to buy the basics.

"After the pot of money is set, as you add more schools, they're dividing up the pie into more pieces," said Breene Harimoto, Board of Education member.

The approval process for new charter schools exists independently from the budgeting process, which is controlled by the Legislature and the Department of Education. New charter schools get caught in the middle.

The Legislature slashed $1.5 million for operational funds for the three new startups requested in a proposed budget, said Maunalei Love, interim executive director of the Department of Education's Charter Schools Administrative Office.

Startup public charter schools need everything from physical classrooms to furniture and books.

"If they don't have that funding, that's another piece that's missing," she said. Charter schools must also pay salaries for faculty, staff and administrators.

A new law shifted the responsibility to authorize new charter schools away from the Board of Education to a 12-member panel, which is still looking to fill four seats.

If three new schools are approved for the fall, they will likely be vying for a meager portion already allotted for existing schools, which has current charter school administrators worried.

The law requires the Charter School Administrative Office to distribute 50 percent of the per-pupil funding by July 20, but it does not address what happens when new startups are added during the year, said Bob Roberts, the office's chief financial officer.

Denise Matsumoto, Board of Education representative on the review panel, said a member of the Charter Schools Network said he had serious concerns that it would negatively affect the budget for existing charter schools.

The three startups were originally included in the budget but were taken out, and charter schools received a lump sum of $51 million, Love said. With $1.6 million going to union employee raises, about $49 million is left, she said.

"That lump sum now has to go for all," Love said. "It sounds like a lot, but it's really not enough most of the time."

There are currently about 6,200 students enrolled in charter schools, and that number could grow by 300 or more if the new schools are approved.

"That's going to cut substantially into the per-pupil amount," Love said.

Love said she has spoken with the governor to request emergency funds for new charter schools this fall.

But Harimoto said that such funding would not come until the next legislative session.

He said planning for a new school should be done a year in advance and be driven by when a budget is approved.

Harimoto said the charter school review panel is not obligated to grant a charter to new schools for the upcoming year, but he will not halt it.

"I wouldn't put a stop to it, but the charter schools need to understand what that means," he said. "If they're OK with that, that's fine."

Love said she "wouldn't recommend they not approve schools," adding that the approval could be dependent upon whether appropriations are received or might approve new schools for the 2008-09 school year instead.

Kamaile Elementary School on the Waianae Coast was approved Wednesday by the new review panel for charter schools, but it is a conversion school, meaning it was a regular DOE school and will use existing DOE facilities.

There are currently 28 charter schools -- 23 startups and five conversion schools, including Kamaile.