Hawaii residents already have enough reasons to be tracking, carefully, the progress of the state’s newest agency, the Public Land Development Corp.

A recent report by Star-Advertiser reporter Andrew Gomes should give them another. The Abercrombie administration has signaled that the corporation, which is still at the beginning of its organizational process, could ultimately expedite the use of school land for affordable housing. That’s because the law creating the corporation exempts it “from all statutes, ordinances, charter provisions and rules of any government agency.”

The general concept of more effective use of state property, of course, is a good one. Affordable housing is one of the state’s greatest needs, and the cost of the land is by far the greatest challenge in making such projects pencil out. If the state could retain ownership of the land and enable economical housing development, the end result could be a win-win.

But it’s far too early in the process to sit back, confident that this will all work out. The corporation board, which met last week, is defining the criteria for hiring its executive director. Then its first major job is the preparation of a “public land optimization plan,” beginning with creating an inventory of public lands suitable for development.

Before school properties can go on the list, there are many complications — including ownership, said Randy Moore, assistant superintendent, Department of Education Office of School Facilities and Support Services. Among the arrangements: Campuses can be owned by the state or county, or occupy a mix of government parcels; schools on military bases can be federally owned.

Additionally, Moore said, some parcels may have provisions that if the land isn’t used for a school, ownership may revert to another party. At some point all these issues would have to be resolved.

The matter of school closure itself requires comprehensive study by the DOE and approval by the Board of Education. Then, if no DOE use for the property is found, it could be released. The new school board is planning to revisit the whole school-closure process, so even Step 1 has been postponed.

That said, school facilities are critical to how the state delivers education, and that concern must steer the final decision, even with the great pressure to develop the homes and the shrinking enrollments at urban-core schools. The board comprises all Abercrombie appointees, and while housing development is a priority of the administration, the governor has placed a premium on overseeing the educational system. It’s clear what the school BOE mandate should be.

One hopeful sign is a recent statement by Don Horner, chairman of the school board. Enabling student achievement is the paramount duty of the BOE, and he emphasized that no sites are on the table.

That’s good to hear. Nevertheless, the public has been forewarned about the power this land agency could wield. Taxpayers share in the responsibility of oversight over the Public Land Development Corp. and must insist that all of its plans for state-owned property — school campuses and every other category — be made in the most transparent way possible.