The state’s 32 public charter schools have for the first time signed onto performance contracts that officials say will hold the autonomous schools accountable for academic, financial and organizational responsibilities.

The one-year contracts, which took effect Monday, were required under a 2012 law intended to reform the charter system and better track academics and finances at the campuses, which have enjoyed much autonomy since the first charter opened in 1999.

The law also aimed to strengthen monitoring of charters with the creation of the Public Charter School Commission to replace the state’s Charter School Review Panel.

Tom Hutton, the commission’s executive director, said the contracts were developed collaboratively with the schools. He said initial contracts were designed to be for one year to allow for any needed adjustments.

"This hasn’t been accomplished without some real anxiety on the part of the schools, so our work has only begun," he said in a statement. "In the coming year, the commission and the schools will continue to work together to refine what we have put in place and address concerns that may arise."

The commission said charter schools — public schools that are governed and managed independently from the state Department of Education — until now had never operated under performance contracts, which are considered best practice for the sector. The contracts will help "ensure good outcomes for students and responsible stewardship of public funds," commission Chairwoman Karen Street said.

Hawaii’s charter schools educate about 10,000 students, or roughly 5 percent of the public school population, at campuses ranging from small, Hawaiian-focused schools to online-only schools. They report to their own governing boards rather than the Board of Education.

The schools receive per-pupil funding from the state based on a formula, and no tax dollars for facilities. For the upcoming year the commission expects to get about $6,000 per student.

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers lists performance contracts with charter schools as an "essential practice," with 94 percent of so-called charter school authorizers nationwide executing such contracts in the 2011-12 school year.

Under the Hawaii contracts, charter schools will be rated on two "performance frameworks," and any substandard ratings may result in monitoring or intervention:

» Financial: Provides the commission with data to assess a school’s financial health and viability on an ongoing basis. Schools will be rated annually, using such indicators as assets and liabilities; net income and revenues; enrollment changes; and debts.

» Organizational: Allows the commission to determine compliance under state and federal laws and rules for a school’s education programs, financial management, governance and reporting, employees and school environment.

The academic standards portion of the contracts appears to require schools to implement the new, more rigorous Common Core State Standards, national benchmarks in language arts and mathematics being rolled out in most states. (Forty-five states, including Hawaii, have adopted the set of K-12 standards.)

But charter schools can "retain the autonomy to select a particular curricula and/or instructional approach" consistent with the Common Core or other state academic standards, the contracts state.

The execution of the contracts is the latest step in revamping the state’s charter system under Act 130 of 2012.

The overhaul of charter law came after reports of questionable use of public money, possible favoritism in hiring of relatives and poor academic performance at a few campuses. In December 2011 the state auditor blasted the charter system in a report which concluded that in many cases the schools are "free to spend public funds with little or no oversight."