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UPDATED 6/15/2011 12:35 p.m.

Most members of the new Hawaii State Board of Education have a household income of at least $100,000 and nearly half own at least $250,000 worth of real estate outside their personal residences, according to their financial disclosures.

The filings were the first for many board members, many of whom come from private and nonprofit organizations. Notably, the disclosures give a full picture of how active many of the board members have been in their communities.

All lawmakers are required to submit forms disclosing any potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise. Not all of those are available to the public, but disclosures for the Hawaii State Board of Education are. (Note: State law allows public officials to disclose monetary ranges instead of precise figures.)

In the interest of getting to know the board members better, Civil Beat examined the disclosures.

Some highlights:

• Voluntary boards: The nine board members together have held or currently hold a combined 30 voluntary unpaid positions on various community boards and foundations. Seven currently sit on other volunteer boards including the YWCA, the Salvation Army and the Hawaii Community Foundation, to name a few. Chairman Don Horner alone sits on 10 other boards. At least one member, serves on another education-related board: Jim Williams is on the Voyager Public Charter School board of trustees and foundation. (He told legislators during his confirmation testimony that he does not believe either presents an inherent conflict of interest, but he plans to seek a ruling from the Ethics Commission.¹)
• Household income: Seven of the nine reported an annual household income of $100,000 or more, and at least five of them make more than $200,000. Horner makes in excess of $1 million. Six of them reported that a spouse’s income contributed to the household total, four reported holding more than one paying job.
• Real estate and other investments: Four reported ownership of at least $250,000 worth of real estate outside their personal residences, with two reporting at least $1 million worth of real estate outside their personal residences. Three reported ownership of stocks and mutual funds. Two reported full or partial ownership of a personal or family company.
• Common creditor: Five of them, including Horner, owe money to First Hawaiian Bank, of which Horner is president and CEO.

The disclosures offer a more complete picture of each board members’ backgrounds and commitments.

For example, take Kim Gennaula, who recently took a job leading Aloha United Way. She is married to local weather newsman Guy Hagi and reported seven different sources of income last year, most of them small. Her day job was directing philanthropy for Hawaii Pacific Health, but she listed other jobs including: professor at Pacific Rim Christian College, actress work, hosting and reporting for . She reports her husband’s income is between $100,000 and $150,000.

Wesley Lo reported that he made between $150,000 and $250,000 as the CEO of Maui Memorial Medical Center,² and his wife made between $50,000 and $100,000 as a school counselor for the Hawaii Department of Education. He also reported that he is director of the Maui Economic Development Board, among other hospital-related directorships.

Keith Amemiya, the former Hawaii High School Athletic Association director, and his wife together made between $220,000 and $325,000 last year and hold between $300,000 and $600,000 in debt. He reported that he also used to direct the Learning Coalition and the Honolulu Firefighters Association. (See our related coverage on The Learning Coalition.)

Lo, Amemiya and Charlene Cuaresma each reported ownership of stock, but Horner — the CEO of First Hawaiian Bank — did not.

The board chairman told Civil Beat that he misunderstood the disclosure form and thought Item 2, “Ownership or Beneficial Interests in Business,” meant he should disclose only “material ownership” in a company.

State law requires elected and appointed officials to “list the amount and identity of ownership or beneficial interest held during the disclosure period in any business in or outside of the State if the interest has a value of $5,000 or more or is equal to 10% or more of the ownership of the business.”

Horner said he owns “certainly less than $100,000” worth of stock in First Hawaiian Bank’s parent company, BNP Paribas, but that his stock holdings are immaterial in the context of a $3 trillion company.

“The disclosure form is complicated,” he said. “It’s very confusing.”

(Read here about other challenges posed by Hawaii’s disclosure law.)

All disclosures except the one for Jim Williams conscientiously use the alphabetical code to record their incomes, holdings and debt. (In his case, he listed the exact amounts.) Here’s a key to what each letters stands for:

• A Less than $1,000
• B At least $1,000 but less than $10,000
• C At least $10,000 but less than $25,000
• D At least $25,000 but less than $50,000
• E At least $50,000 but less than $100,000
• F At least $100,000 but less than $150,000
• G At least $150,000 but less than $250,000
• H At least $250,000 but less than $500,000
• I At least $500,000 but less than $750,000
• J At least $750,000 but less than $1,000,000
• K At least $1,000,000 or more

Click the names below to read the full disclosures for each of the board members: