After hearing emotional pleas from parents, students and staff, the Public Charter School Commission postponed a decision on whether to recommend closing Halau Lokahi until the debt-ridden charter school produces a new financial plan.

The Kalihi school hasn’t paid rent since February, stopped paying its teachers this month and has run up a $417,000 debt, according to the commission.

Commissioners appeared touched by testimony praising the school for rescuing kids who were on the verge of flunking elsewhere and found a new purpose and love of learning in its Hawaiian cultural curriculum. But officials pressed the school’s leaders for details on how they got into such a financial predicament and how they would get out of it.

"I support indigenous education," said commissioner Mitch D’Olier. "I support the idea of Halau Lokahi. I think their leader and their board appear to have been financially irresponsible. Educationally, I’m really happy with it. Financially, I’m really worried."

The school’s director, Laara Allbrett, said the administration had come up with a new financial plan, but its accountant couldn’t be at the meeting to present it. Commissioners asked her to submit it by 5 p.m. Thursday and postponed decision-making until Wednesday.

"We are human beings, and we couldn’t get everything together in enough time," Allbrett said. "The per-pupil allocation, we all know, is not enough. But boy, do we try to make the dollars stretch. … We did look at everything carefully. We made whatever additional cuts we needed to keep the school going."

A financial plan presented to commission staff by the school last week would not have sustained operations even through the fall, said the commission’s executive director, Tom Hutton.

Halau Lokahi’s enrollment dropped by 20 percent to 183 pupils in October, cutting the $6,000-per-pupil funding from the state by the same amount. Efforts to find other sources of money have failed, said June Nagasawa, governing board chairwoman.

"We have tried many organizations, but they all fell through, even the bank," Nagasawa said. "We have to admit we need your help. We are willing to sit and formulate a plan."

Commission Vice Chairman Peter Tomozawa said he was touched when he visited the school.

"I absolutely adore your students, your children," he said. "It was an amazing experience to go to this school and feel the love." However, he added, "In any business, if you fall short on revenues, you better cut expenses. It’s not that complicated."

Despite the drop in enrollment, Halau Lokahi still has 22 people on staff, the same number it had three years ago, when it had 244 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Allbrett’s daughter, Callei, is the school’s business manager. Three other members of her family also have worked there for years.

Charter schools report to their own governing boards, which are overseen by the commission. Hutton urged commissioners to ask the school’s governing board to voluntarily shut down the campus rather than risk having kids displaced midway through the school year.

"I think it’s far better for the charter school, for the governing board to do the right thing than for the commission to have to pull the trigger," he said. "One of the greatest tragedies and the greatest ironies in all this is that one of the key principles this charter tries to instill in students is self-responsibility. In taking this action, this governing board can show the students it too can practice what it teaches its students, even when it’s painful."

Hutton’s statement incensed members of the school community, who objected in particular to his use of the phrase "pull the trigger." He later called it an off-the-cuff remark and poor choice of words.

Halau Lokahi opened in 2001, holding classes under tents, but now leases space on Waiakamilo Road. Its recent enrollment drop came after it parted ways with an outside contractor that had provided online courses.

Parents praised the school’s impact on their families, and teachers spoke of their commitment to the students, regardless if they get paid.

"My children made a 180-degree turn from flunking and falling through the cracks to graduating from Halau Lokahi first in their class," said Pono Kealoha, whose daughter graduated from the school and later returned as a teacher.

"I’m a kanaka maoli," Kealoha said. "What you’re teaching in our public schools isn’t for us. We teach, we learn in a different way. It’s through the naau; it’s through the seeing and feeling and touching and doing. It doesn’t come from a book."

Junior Coleman, a teacher, expressed concern about the impact on the students if the school closes.

"It brings tears to my eyes when I think of the kids," he said. "As a teacher, I need to get paid, but I understand the bigger picture."

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which provides financial support to charters, also weighed in on behalf of the school. Monica Morris, OHA’s public policy advocate, said Halau Lokahi’s students enjoy school and take an active part in the community.

"They go to the Legislature to testify, and they did bring a big voice to several pieces of legislation that OHA was advocating," she said. "The teachers don’t confine the students to the classroom. They are in the aina, they are in the community, so this is a school that we support."