Waters of Life Public Charter School on Hawaii island will be released from probation June 15 after spending three years under strict monitoring by the Charter School Review Panel.

The little elementary school in Mountain View got its new lease on life thanks to a divided panel, which lauded the school’s dramatic turnaround in fiscal and governance matters but still harbored concerns about enrollment and academics.

"I think it’s a great day," said Mary Quijano, who heads Waters of Life’s local school board. "I think we worked very hard, and that was acknowledged and we’re just going to go forward from here."

Panel members voted 6-2 Thursday to extend the school’s probation until Oct. 31, but that was one vote short of the number needed to pass the motion. As a result, the situation defaults to the status quo, which is for its current term of probation to expire on June 15. The panel has 12 members.

"I think they’ve shown the panel that they’re going to be viable, and they should be given the opportunity," said panel member Randall Yee, who favored lifting probation.

The elementary school has had a troubled history marred by financial mismanagement and was placed on probation in 2008. The panel voted to revoke its charter in June 2009, but the decision was overturned in court on a technicality. Since then a new principal, Daniel Caluya, and a new local school board have taken leadership of the campus.

It closed the academic year with 70 students, down from 89 at the start of the school year. It projects an enrollment of 103 in the fall, when it will add a seventh-grade class. Once saddled with debt, the school expects to end this fiscal year with a surplus of more than $100,000, thanks in part to an infusion of federal stimulus money.

Quijano said online testing shows that students made "a huge jump" in proficiency in math on this year’s Hawaii State Assessment over last year’s abysmal scores. Official results will not be released until this summer. The school offered after-school tutoring and even held tutoring sessions on Saturdays to help get students up to par.