Government data from Grassroot

The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii describes itself as a nonprofit research and educational organization with goals that include promoting "limited and accountable government." So its latest venture, OpenHawaii.org, seems to fit neatly within that mission.

The new website is a selective repository of public information the institute has culled. Some of its favorite focal points have been the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission. The site already includes a check register from OHA, so visitors can see who got what money.

The group is filing a lawsuit to compel the release of the names of enrollees, who must be Native Hawaiian to qualify.

Mostly what’s on the website is government salary data. There’s also a top-10 annual pension list: It doesn’t give the department, but No. 1 gets a maximum allowance of $195,108.62.

Hawaii students show proficiency

The increase in Hawaii public school graduates going to college is all the more impressive knowing that fewer of those students need remedial courses once they get there.

The Department of Education and its partners are to be applauded for progress in both areas. That said, at 56 percent, Hawaii’s college-going rate remains about 10 percent below the national average.

And with about 30 percent of UH freshmen requiring a remedial course before handling college-level work, the remediation rate is about 10 percent higher than the national average.

So we’re getting better, but with room to improve.