Charter schools might skirt panel

Supporters of proposed rules that would allow for groups such as nonprofits and universities to approve and oversee Hawaii’s public charter schools say the move would strengthen charters without eroding standards.

Hawaii currently has a single charter-authorizing agency, the Public Charter School Commission, a state entity responsible for regulating the state’s 34 charter schools.

The state Board of Education is considering allowing multiple “authorizers” — a common practice in other states. Charter school leaders, students and advocates packed the BOE’s boardroom last week during a public hearing to voice support for proposed rules, arguing that the change would strengthen the charter sector and relieve capacity issues at the commission. They also contend authorizers should align with the missions of the schools they oversee.

“While we appreciate the efforts of the commission and are supportive of policies that promote high academic, financial and organizational standards for Hawaii public charter schools, we believe there is a need to build in additional capacity for other authorizers in the state,” said Jeannine Souki, executive director of the Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network.

“The establishment of additional authorizers,” she added, “should reflect similar standards for comprehensive academic, operational, governance, and performance charter application and contract requirements, and enhance the diversity and innovation that public charter schools represent for public school education in Hawaii.”

Under a timeline adopted by the BOE, the earliest an authorizer approved by the board would begin operating is spring 2018. New authorizers could then potentially start vetting applicants that year and approve schools that would open in 2020.

Some charter advocates say it would be beneficial to have authorizers that can better support Hawaiian-focused schools. Seventeen of the state’s charters are Hawaiian language immersion or Hawaiian-focused schools, where instruction and learning are grounded in Hawaiian values, knowledge, beliefs, practices and language.

“An authorizer should believe in the mission and vision of the schools it oversees,” said Mapuana Waipa, fiscal and cultural coordinator for Ke Ana La‘ahana Public Charter School, a Hawaiian-focused school in Keaukaha on the Big Island. “It is also important that the authorizer be aligned with the epistemology of those schools and affords them the ability — as well as provides them the opportunity and support — to reach their goals and objectives.”

Other charter schools said they want the ability to transfer to a new authorizer, something that the proposed rules would allow under certain conditions.

The BOE’s proposed rules include language to discourage so-called “shopping” between authorizing entities by prohibiting the transfer of charter contracts between authorizers “in an attempt to reduce the level of oversight or accountability to which the charter school is currently subject or to avoid possible revocation or nonrenewal of its charter contract.”

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers, in written testimony, cautioned against the practice.

“When proposals for additional authorizers are taken up in any state, our chief concern is that any new authorizer should not prompt ‘authorizer shopping’ by offering less rigorous application oversight and renewal standards,” John Hedstrom, the association’s vice president for policy and advocacy, wrote. “Hawaii’s current charter law, one of the nation’s strongest, is quite clear that all authorizers must share a deep commitment to high standards and professional practice in these areas.”

Some school leaders argue that transfers are necessary because of long-standing tensions between some schools and staff of the Public Charter School Commission.

“For us, we’re not authorizer shopping. We’re seeking asylum — it’s that bad,” said Taffi Wise, executive director of Kanu o ka Aina Learning Ohana, which runs a K-12 charter school in Kamuela on Hawaii island.

Susie Osborne, co-founder and head of school for Kua O Ka La New Century Public Charter School in Puna, also on Hawaii island, said last week that transfers are warranted.

“The dialogue around authorizer shopping is only negative connotations and does not consider many other real and valid concerns that our charters have with our current authorizer and the big gaps in our current charter system,” Osborne said.

Hawaii’s charter school commission — a nine-member board of volunteers supported by state staff — was created as part of sweeping legislation to reform the charter school system in 2012. The agency has a statutory mission “to authorize high-quality public charter schools throughout the state.”

That 2012 law also calls on the BOE to establish, through administrative rules, an annual application and approval process for eligible entities to apply for chartering authority. But that process didn’t begin until earlier this year, as leadership of the BOE changed over, and complaints from charter schools prompted the board to take a closer look at the commission’s performance.

The proposed rules next head to the BOE’s Student Achievement Committee before going before the full board in November. To view a draft of the rules, go to: 808ne.ws/2db0rEc.