Retiring DOE official ‘had an impact’ on schools

Randy Moore, the Department of Education’s point man on a wide range of issues, from buses to repair and maintenance to school lunches, has announced he will retire June 30.

Moore, 73, has been assistant superintendent of facilities and support services since 2006. After a recent DOE reorganization he took on additional duties as senior assistant superintendent, overseeing information technology and other operations.

The former business executive left his job as president of Kaneohe Ranch in 2001 to fulfill a dream of teaching math. He spent three years in the classroom at Central Middle School, doing what he called the "hardest job I’ve ever had" before being recruited by then-Superintendent Pat Hamamoto to oversee the implementation of new reforms under Act 51.

Moore supervised the DOE’s transition under the Reinventing Education Act to the weighted student formula, a revamped way of funding schools that assigns "weights" to students based on their needs. Under the formula, schools with larger populations of disadvantaged or special-needs youth get more money.

Act 51 also created school community councils and gave principals more control over their annual operating budgets.

In February 2006, Moore was named to head the DOE’s facilities and support services. Under his tenure, the department’s massive repair and maintenance backlog has continued to drop and schools have improved their energy efficiency.

"He has really had an impact" on schools, said Terry George, executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, where Moore served as executive vice president from 1989 to 2001 and remains on the board.

The Castle Foundation has been a strong supporter of public schools, and Moore said it was his work with the nonprofit that got him seriously thinking about pursuing his dream of teaching.

Moore said that during his time at the department he has seen a lot of positive change, most of it behind the scenes. "We’re doing a better job for our students now than when I first began," he said.

He added, "We’re still challenged with some ancient infrastructure that makes it more difficult to" make improvements.

The department has not yet named a successor.