Ed Department = Real Estate Developer?
Imagine if the Hawaii Department of Education could replace some of its old school buildings with new ones, while simultaneously increasing its long-term cashflow.
Sounds like a dream, but two bills making their way through the Legislature propose doing just that.
Better known as the Public School Lands Trust measures, and propose creating a trust to develop unused public school lands.
The trust would be commissioned with renting and developing underused school land for a variety of commercial and residential purposes. The revenue generated would, among other things, help upgrade or replace old school facilities to be compatible with 21st-Century needs. In other words, more schools like the new Ewa Makai Middle School.
At least 26 other states already successfully employ the strategy for their schools, according to the nonprofit policy organization . Hawaii’s proposal is based on Arizona’s program.
In Hawaii, about 4,000 acres of land designated for public schools is split among four entities:
- The U.S. Government
- The State of Hawaii
- Counties of Honolulu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii
- Private entities and individuals
The Department of Education’s 257 school campuses and 19 million square feet of building space take up most of those lands, the policy organization asserts in a fact sheet on the issue. But a significant amount is underutilized.
A HIPA survey of just 15 campuses found 40 acres of developable land that could generate $12.5 million in added revenue for the department.
The Senate proposal cites an even higher potential revenue — $120 million — for just 10 campuses:
“A preliminary review by a real estate expert indicates that the redevelopment of ten parcels have the potential to generate $120,000,000. The lands would be developed solely for the benefit of Hawaii’s public school children.”
Seed money for the research into the benefits of a land trust came from local philanthropist Bill Reeves, co-founder of and the biggest contributor to last year’s campaign for an appointed Board of Education.
“At present, public school lands represent one of the largest underutilized resources in the State of Hawaii,” Reeves wrote in his testimony for the Senate’s joint committees on Education and Water, Land and Housing last week. “In an era in which the DOE is forced to make agonizingly difficult decisions for the sake of several hundred thousand dollars we simply cannot allow potential sources of revenue to go unrealized.”
Organizations that have opposed the bills include the Department of Education, the Department of Budget and Finance, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said she was worried a land trust would be too complicated and duplicate DLNR’s work. OHA protested the trust’s potential effect on ceded lands that are used for public schools. Ceded lands cannot be sold until the Native Hawaiians’ claim to them has been resolved, according to OHA testimony.
Some of those departments have gradually shifted their support to the proposals as those issues are clarified and resolved, HIPA spokesman Jim McCoy told Civil Beat.
The Senate measure was passed last week with amendments by the Senate Education and the Water, Land and Housing committees.
The companion House bill was passed unamended by both the House Education and the Water, Land and Ocean Resources committees.
