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The Hawaii Legislature is contributing $1.5 million to a private Roman Catholic school to help fund construction of a new athletic complex, library and student services building, among other renovations.

The allocation to Kalihi’s is one of that the 2013 Legislature agreed to subsidize through what are known as grants-in-aid.

Critics say the state is not in a position to earmark public money for privately run organizations, and they question the relatively closed-door process by which lawmakers on the finance committees select recipients.

But allows the Legislature to earmark money for private nonprofits that .

The grant-in-aid program is in part designed to support nonprofits that do good in the community and that might not otherwise be able to afford services for substantial sectors of the state’s population.

“When public schools are asking for projects, the one response is always ‘there’s not enough money,’” said Campbell High School teacher and grassroots organizer Corey Rosenlee. “I think it’s a question of what our priorities are. It may be legal but it’s about what is moral.”

Rosenlee has spearheaded a urging the state to put air conditioning into the state’s “cinderblock-oven” classrooms.

Damien’s subsidy was requested by the Hawaii chapter of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, a network of Catholic schools that includes the now co-ed Damien. The grant actually amounts to 50 percent more than the $1 million originally requested in the . It is unclear why.

The grant accounts for nearly 5 percent of the that the Legislature approved last session as grants-in-aid for non-profit construction projects. Aside from two preschools, Damien was the only school to receive such a grant. (Other recipients include health centers and community development organizations.) It is, along with the Salvation Army and Mililani Presbyterian Church Preschool, among the few religious institutions.

The school’s application argued that the funding was necessary to support a college-prep institution that promotes Christian values and access to a quality education by those who couldn’t otherwise afford it. The school, according to the application, has spent the majority of its revenue and donations on students’ financial aid, forcing it to defer “major maintenance.”

State lawmakers also approved nearly $99 million for capital improvement projects this fiscal year at dozens of public schools, including big-ticket projects such as $18.4 million to build a new wing at Ewa Makai Middle School and $10 million to modernize Farrington High School.

But Hawaii consistently ranks last in the country for public school capital improvement project funding even though the average Hawaii public school is 65 years old.

Given how little the state invests in public school facilities, the grant is a slap in the face, Rosenlee argued.

He said that the public funding support for Damien highlights a philosophical problem and compared the grant-in-aid program to the state’s efforts to use public money for private preschools. The public, Rosenlee says, needs to decide if it wants to subsidize private schools.

For comparison’s sake, a review of the capital improvement projects approved by the Legislature this year shows that the $1.5 million that is going to Damien is equal to the cost of another project to put in campus-wide air conditioning at Aiea Elementary School.

State Rep. Karl Rhoads, whose district includes Damien and six public schools that also received capital improvement money this year, argues that that the Catholic school’s grant is pennies compared to the Hawaii Department of Education’s budget this fiscal year, which totals more than $1.7 billion. That’s less than .1 percent.

Rhoads defended the Damien subsidy, emphasizing that private schools are an important part of the community and therefore deserve some state support.

“I do want students in the district to have a good education available to them at both private and public schools,” the representative said. “Public schools should be the highest priority of the state but sometimes there are private school projects that are deserving of our support.”

Rhoads, who noted that grants for private schools are uncommon, argued that Damien deserves the money because it’s a place where students can get a quality education.

Damien Spokesman Pat Bigold said that the grant-in-aid makes up a small fraction of what’s needed to fund the school’s , which is budgeted at $12 million. Other project funders include the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation, the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation and ABC Stores.

The project, Bigold said, marks the school’s first construction project in more than three decades. The school, now 51 years old, includes grades six through 12 and was, until the 2012-13 school year, an all-boys institution.