An estimated 17 leadership and other positions at adult community schools will be eliminated when state funding for the campuses is halved next school year, but education officials pledged the range of adult education services offered by the state will remain the same.
Under a tentative plan, the Department of Education is looking to retain two community schools with the highest enrollments — McKinley and Waipahu — and convert the remaining eight to satellite campuses.
The satellites would not have principals, but would instead be led by vice principals or site coordinators.
Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi told Board of Education members Tuesday, in a presentation on the DOE’s budget for the 2012-13 school year, that the goal is to lower costs without cutting program offerings.
"The academic programs of the community schools are our focus," she said. "We’re absolutely focused on maintaining those services."
Matayoshi added that most of the principals, vice principals and others in eliminated positions will likely be offered spots elsewhere in the department.
Lawmakers set aside $2.5 million for adult education in the supplemental budget bill for next fiscal year.
Adult community schools had been receiving $5 million from the DOE. But the department said it didn’t have the money to fund the schools at that level for the coming school year.
Adult community schools offer a host of free continuing education programs, including courses for the GED diploma, English as a second language, reading and math literacy and substitute teacher certification.
There is also a long list of self-sufficient recreational classes at adult schools that are supported by student fees.
More than 9,000 people in the islands attended courses at community schools in the 2010-11 school year. That number included about 1,500 16- to 18-year-olds who had formally opted out of traditional public schools.
The DOE has said that it will likely institute fees for classes that are now free, but a fee schedule has not been finalized.
The department is also looking to streamline registration and move it online so fewer administrative personnel are needed.
Board of Education members applauded the department’s pledge to retain key services, such as GED diploma classes.
Hawaii’s adult community schools are the only authorized examiners of GED diploma testing in the islands.
Wes Lo, chairman of the BOE’s Finance and Infrastructure Committee, said the effort to keep adult education programs afloat in tough fiscal times has been a "trial by fire" for the department.
"You do not see any loss of services?" Lo asked Matayoshi at the committee meeting.
"That is our intention," Matayoshi said.
