FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 3, 2001
Contact: Rep. Guy Ontai
Tel.: 586-6150




CHARTER SCHOOL BILL WILL UNDERMINE MOVEMENT

Despite bipartisan opposition in the House and Senate, a bill to cripple Hawaii's charter school experiment passed out of both chambers. Opponents say that this legislation seriously damages what is already one of the weakest charter school laws in the nation. "A committee report on this bill stated that the purpose of this bill was to 'assist' charter schools, but in truth, it further restricts the schools that should be our most innovative, cutting-edge, educational establishments," says Rep. Guy Ontai (R-Mililani).


Proponents say the bill will help charter schools in their application process. Charter school supporters see it differently. The review panel, which is dominated by the Board of Education, has 45 days to find fault with the charter school's plan; then the charter school has 30 days to make corrections. The school can appeal a negative verdict only once, and only to the same body that initially rejected the school. "This legislation gives the Board of Education life-and-death power to veto new charter schools, and wrongly allows BOE to do so using subjective criteria," Ontai said.


The new legislation also takes money away from charter schools. It removes a small school subsidy that charter schools with less than 120 students currently receive. Charter school proponents are concerned that many schools will now have to close their doors due to lack of funding.


"These schools do not charge tuition; they are public schools. They are held to the same standards as Hawaii's other public schools, and they serve the same children. In this state, they are even approved by the same board, yet the Democrat majority proposes to cut public funding from these schools based on their size. If anything, the small size of these schools should help achieve goals we set for all schools," said Rep. Mindy Jaffe (R-Kaimunki, Kapahulu).


Charter school supporters are also concerned about another funding take-away. The bill limits the per pupil allocation for each charter school to not more than what state schools received in the previous year. Giving a funding "ceiling" without a guaranteed "floor" leaves charter schools wondering what there budgets might be , or whether they will have enough to keep their doors open.


Jaffe, who voted against the bill, said: "I cannot support a bill that cuts funding for our most innovative public school change--one that works well throughout the mainland. Why should we pay to educate a child only in one type of school when it costs taxpayers no more, really, to educate that same child in a charter school?"


Rep. Chris Halford (R-Maui) proposed an amendment to address problems with the bill. In line with charter school programs elsewhere, it created an alternate chartering authority to the school board--Halford's amendment gave that power to the University of Hawaii's School of Education. The amendment also would have provided adequate funding to charter schools.


Though four Democrats joined the House Republicans in voting against the charter school bill, only the Republican Caucus supported the amendment. Halford asked after the amendment was defeated, "What does our government culture have against charter schools?"


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