BOE Forms Investigative Committee To Explore Charter School Oversight
The state school board says concerns over charter schools and the commission that oversees them warrants a closer look.
The Hawaii聽 will be聽taking a much closer look at charter school oversight in coming months, after a series of informal events in November and December highlighted the growing rift between charter schools and the state commission that oversees them.
The BOE聽voted unanimously on Tuesday to form an investigative committee to look at the , after listening to more than an hour聽public testimony from charter school leaders.
“There were sufficient concerns expressed, and they聽are broad enough and deep enough that further investigation by the board is warranted,” BOE member Jim Williams said of the聽charter school listening tour.
Lawmakers created the Hawaii Public Charter School Commission in 2012 with聽, which put in place some significant changes for the charter school system in Hawaii.
Charter School Commissioner Karen Street said she would personally welcome a closer examination of the commission’s work. Williams’ report on the charter school listening tour did not contain any responses from the Commission or its staff.
Street, like Charter School Commission Chair Catherine Payne, said she was聽disappointed in the one-sided nature of the聽listening tour report.
The commission has been tasked with overseeing significant changes in both financial and academic accountability for the schools. But charter school leaders say they the commission has gone too far in the reporting requirements it has put into place.
“I think the commission staff is being overworked,” said Gene Zarro, a board member of the Kihei Charter School, “and in an聽effort to get their job done is trying to homogenize this cohort of charter schools.”
Taking on responsibility for any transformation means you will usually take arrows to the back, Street said.
“Judging from the report, my sense is there are definite signs of a transformation in progress,” Street said.
The state charter school law states that the BOE can聽conduct a special review of the Charter School Commission if there is a need to do so, Williams said.
The investigative committee’s task will be deciding if a special review is warranted, and determining the process for聽such a review.
The board also voted Tuesday to move forward with formulating the rules for allowing other entities to apply to become a charter school authorizer in the state.
The commission is the only charter school authorizer in the state, though the BOE has the ability to approve additional authorizers. So far both Hawaii County and University of Hawaii West Oahu have expressed interest in becoming authorizers.
