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In 2010, House Education Committee Chair Roy Takumi proposed a constitutional amendment to shift Hawaii’s Board of Education from elected to appointed. Voter turnout in BOE elections was consistently low, and Takumi hoped that tasking the governor and Senate with selecting members would hold state leaders more accountable for Hawaii education. 

Now Takumi jokes that he wouldn’t have pushed for the change if he knew the governor would ask him to lead the board 14 years later. The retired lawmaker will assume his new role as BOE chair on Thursday.

“I would never have run for the board,” Takumi said.

But, Takumi said, he believes public service is his calling. And after leaving the Legislature in 2022, he has the time to fully commit to steering the board.

During his 30 years in the Legislature, Takumi helped change the funding model for Hawaii schools, establish the state office overseeing public pre-kindergarten programs and create school councils to increase community engagement in education.

In his new role, Takumi plans on holding the Department of Education accountable for progress in key areas like attendance and reading and math proficiency, while also making the board more accessible and transparent. He, along with eight other voting members of the board, will be responsible for setting policy for nearly 300 schools.

Takumi’s chairmanship marks the third change in BOE leadership in the last two years. Former chair, longtime businessman Warren Haruki, announced his resignation in March after serving on the board for approximately nine months. 

Amid recent concerns that high turnover on the board has weakened its ability to hold DOE accountable for student success, many education advocates are hopeful that the BOE will take a more active role under Takumi in setting policy for Hawaii schools and monitoring their progress.

“We all do best by the schools if we all can cooperate and collaborate for what’s in the best interest of the students,” Takumi said.

A Legacy In The Legislature

Takumi’s former colleagues describe him as witty, organized and supportive of his fellow representatives’ work. He would thoroughly review testimony on bills before legislative hearings and had an encyclopedic knowledge of past leaders and initiatives in the DOE, said former state Rep. Takashi Ohno, who was chair of the House Education Committee from 2013 to 2016 when Takumi was chair. 

Takumi welcomed the feedback of school leaders as he pursued reform through the historic Reinventing Education Act of 2004, said Catherine Payne, who worked as a principal at the time and became BOE chair in 2018. The act established a principal academy to train school leaders, required BOE members to hold regular meetings in their communities and changed schools’ funding models.

“He’s not an educator, but he really schooled himself in what was important for our public schools,” Payne said. 

Takumi’s time in the Legislature also involved heated debate around the role of standardized tests in Hawaii schools. In 2010, Hawaii won a $75 million federal grant based on its promises to increase graduation and college attendance rates and achieve 100% student proficiency in math and reading by 2018. 

As Hawaii struggled to reach these ambitious goals, lawmakers introduced controversial legislation in 2012 that would have partially tied teachers’ annual evaluations and raises to student achievement. The Hawaii State Teachers Association opposed the measure, arguing that the proposed evaluation system valued students’ test-taking skills over their comprehensive growth.  

Rep. Amy Perruso, a public school teacher at the time, said it was frustrating that lawmakers like Takumi didn’t seem to value the teachers’ concerns as the bill passed through their committees. The bill passed the House before it died in the Senate. 

“Honestly, that was a really challenging time for the teachers union,” Perruso said. “I hope he hasn’t held onto that very outdated approach, but we’ll wait and see.”

Takumi said he still believes student performance, including test scores, should factor into teacher evaluations, adding that he supported Hawaii’s decision to apply for the federal grant in 2010. But he also recognizes there are other ways to measure success and supports schools moving toward portfolio-based assessments, which evaluate projects and assignments in addition to test scores.

Takumi said he plans on holding DOE accountable for student performance on state tests in reading, science and math. The board has already identified these areas as key priorities for the department, Takumi added, and data can provide a clearer picture on where schools need to improve.  

“Those metrics never change,” he said. 

Looking Ahead

Since the board shifted from an elected to an appointed body in 2010, Takumi said, he believes governors have taken more responsibility for public education. Governors tend to select members who share similar views on education, Takumi said, pointing to former Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s decision to appoint a board that placed a high value on early learning.

Takumi said he’s still familiarizing himself with changes that have taken place in DOE since he left the Legislature. He wants the board to anticipate future challenges schools may face and discuss them with the department, but he needs more time in his new role to identify these issues.

“I think the more proactive we can be, to stay ahead of the curve, the better off we’ll be,” Takumi said. “Much easier said than done.”

Takumi joins the board as education leaders and advocates raise concerns that the Legislature has been overstepping its role in overseeing public schools. Some have pointed to lawmakers’ recent attempts to pass laws that would revise graduation requirements and change the leadership structure of DOE, decisions typically left up to the board and department. 

Takumi said he’s hoping to bring greater transparency and public accountability to the board, while also collaborating with his former colleagues to prepare Hawaii students for the future. He would like to start by publishing agendas and materials further in advance of BOE’s bimonthly meetings to encourage more community participation.

Takumi said he understands legislators’ impulse to set requirements for schools through law, but he believes the board should have the first opportunity to create policies in areas like graduation requirements. As schools’ needs evolve over time, he added, it’s easier for the board to revise and update its policies than it is for the Legislature to amend laws.

“It seems to me that the board ought to have the first crack at anything regarding curriculum, subjects to be studied, requirements for graduation,” Takumi said.

One of the first tasks Takumi and the board will face is conducting DOE superintendent Keith Hayashi’s annual job review. Next year, the board will choose to renew Hayashi’s contract or begin the search for a new superintendent.

Other issues that could be on the horizon include the consolidation and closure of small schools and the repair and maintenance of broken fire alarms in schools, Takumi said. The retired lawmaker said he wants to hear the thoughts and perspectives of his new colleagues as he develops his vision for the board and public schools moving forward.

Ohno, the former vice chair of the House Education Committee, said he’s excited to see what Takumi will achieve in his new role. Takumi knows the DOE inside and out, Ohno said, and the meetings he’ll hold as chair promise to be exciting for the public.

“I think he’s going to put on a great show,” Ohno said. 

Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.