Halau Lokahi Public Charter School is facing another financial shortfall after Kamehameha Schools declined to provide $1,500 per pupil this academic year, or $238,500.
The Kalihi charter has been told to report to the State Charter School Commission at its Thursday meeting to explain how it will sustain its operations until June. It serves 159 children in kindergarten through 12th grade.
"Our concern is that at the pace that money is being spent, they will run out of funds before the school year ends," said Catherine Payne, commission chairwoman. "So what we are asking is, What are they doing internally to adjust their costs and their expenses?"
The Hawaiian-focused charter school ran out of money before the end of the last school year, cutting off rent payments in February and staff wages in May, while amassing a debt of more than $400,000.
The charter commission allowed the campus to reopen in August for the new school year, after the school replaced its director, Laara Allbrett, reconstituted its governing board and produced a new financial plan.
That budget anticipated an enrollment of 178 students this year, with income of $6,200 per pupil from the state and $1,500 per student from Kamehameha Schools. But just 159 students enrolled. And then the Kamehameha funding through Hoolako Like, which supports Hawaiian-focused charters, didn’t come through.
Asked about it, M. Waialeale Sarsona, director of Hoolako Like, responded by email: "Kamehameha Schools has a responsibility to ensure that collaborators we provide financial support to meet the terms and conditions of their contracts with us. If they do not fulfill their responsibilities under our agreement, their eligibility to receive future funding from KS is jeopardized, as is currently the case with Halau Lokahi."
Sarsona said that in lieu of the funding, Kamehameha is offering professional development for the school’s directors and math teachers.
School co-director Callei Allbrett and governing board member Kari Kalima did not respond to calls and emails from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Thursday. They are daughters of Laara Allbrett, who founded the school in 2001 with the help of her children, several of whom are on its staff.
Halau Lokahi offers a hands-on curriculum centered on Hawaiian values as well as online education. Charters are public schools designed to offer innovation in education, and they report to their own school boards. The commission, made up of volunteers, exercises oversight and has the power to open or close the schools.
Halau Lokahi has negotiated a reduction in rent and trimmed other expenses, according to commission Executive Director Tom Hutton. In a document sent to the commission Oct. 23, Halau Lokahi indicated it intended to lay off a staff member and reduce salaries effective Nov. 1.
"They are working very, very hard," Hutton said. "Nobody wants the school to close."
Commissioners are seeking written confirmation of funding commitments as well as budget cuts and a plan to pay down the school’s debt. Halau Lokahi expects a payment of $400 per student from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, but not until spring.
In addition to scrutinizing Halau Lokahi, one of the state’s oldest charters, the commission has been doing monthly financial monitoring of Malama Honua, one of its newest.
That Waimanalo charter, the state’s smallest, has 41 students in kindergarten through second grade. That’s fewer than originally projected but administrators quickly cut costs.
"They have been doing everything they need to do," Payne said. "They have made adjustments in their expenditures to accommodate their finances. Each year they will add a grade. I think they are going to be OK."
