West Hawaii Today - from archives > Local > Charter schools gain more power?

Charter schools gain more power?

by Nancy Cook Lauer
Stephens Media Capitol Bureau
nclauer@stephensmedia.com
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 8:20 AM HST

HONOLULU -- The Board of Education will soon be forced to cut the apron strings from the state's public charter schools, judging by bills being advanced by Democratic House and Senate education leaders and Republican Gov. Linda Lingle.

The bills give significantly more power to a Charter School Review Panel that was created by the Legislature last year to evaluate existing charter schools and set up processes to create new ones. It would be able to authorize and revoke charters, hire and fire the charter school administrator and create budgets for the state's 27 charter schools.

The number of schools could almost double under a more aggressive charter school leadership, as there are open slots for three new startup charter schools and more than 20 that can convert from traditional public schools. But infighting between the BOE and charter schools has led to delays in the approval process, the firing of the charter school administrator and accusations of micromanagement.

"Charter schools and boards of education everywhere are natural enemies," said Mary Anne Raywid, chairwoman of the League of Women Voters Education Committee, voicing her support of the bills. "Here in Hawaii, people seem surprised when the same sort of aloha that marks other relationships does not seem to permeate the BOE relationships with charter schools. It hasn't and it won't."

Details covering the logistics of who should be able to start up new charter schools, the amount of authority retained by the BOE, how much independence the charter school administrator will have and whether state funding of charter schools will be equal to that of other public schools still need to be worked out, however.

The House bill that advanced Monday isn't as rigorous as one proposed by Lingle that basically creates a charter school authority parallel to the BOE and earmarks $22 million in assistance to charter schools. The Senate bills were heard Monday, but won't be voted on until Wednesday.

"Charter schools should be allowed to operate outside of most of the burdensome regulations placed on regular district schools in order to fulfill their mission," said Lingle's senior policy advisor, Linda Smith. "In addition, such autonomy promotes a culture of accountability within a charter school, helping to ensure success."

The details will be resolved in a conference committee after the House and Senate versions pass a final money committee and are voted on by each chamber.

House Committee Chairman Roy Takumi, D-Pearl City, Momilani, Pacific Palisades, calling the House bill "a work in progress," said he'd like the BOE to serve as a sort of appeals board on panel decisions.

"The Legislature supports them, despite what the governor said that we don't support charter schools," said Takumi. "In all seriousness, I think the whole charter school issue, it has become highly politicized ... I think we all support charters, it's a matter of nurturing it. However, trying to balance the desires and needs of the charters with the other schools in the system is a challenge indeed."

The slew of bills on the subject forge compromise language that gives charter schools the independence from state regulations originally contemplated by the Legislature, while trying to remain true to the state constitution, which specifies a single agency -- the BOE -- will govern public schools.

Dozens of charter school teachers, administrators, parents and students, as well as the charter school administrator and two members of the BOE itself, testified in support of the bills.

"I believe that access to an excellent education is a civil right," said Kate Jacobson of Kailua-Kona, "and that every child deserves a great school."

The Legislature created the public charter schools as a way to create innovative schools that had more freedom from cumbersome regulations than traditional public schools. That very structure makes it hard for the traditional bureaucracy to govern them, said David Rizor, administrator of Volcano School for the Arts and Sciences.

Testifying against the bills were the Board of Education, The Hawaii State Teachers Association and one individual who worried about another layer of bureaucracy.

"Charter schools are public schools and therefore should be subject to the oversight and governance of the BOE," said HSTA President Roger Takabayashi, who said the bills would "undermine the constitutional authority of the BOE."

BOE Chairwoman Karen Knudsen said in written testimony that the board opposes the bill because it and the Charter Review Panel need more time to make the current structure work.

"The board believes that this bill is premature and too vague with respect to the board's role and authority as authorizer of charter schools," Knudsen said. "While the board opposes this bill, we welcome continued dialog through the legislative process to support charter schools and their students."

The House committee voted unanimously to approve its bill with Takumi's modifications, although some committee members thought the original stronger language should have stayed intact.

"The only testimony in opposition only mentioned their own power," noted freshman Rep. Joe Bertram III, D-Makena, Wailea, Kihei. "All the testimony in support mentioned the students."