State DOE’s failure to tap land assets for school upgrades angers board

Board of Education members expressed frustration Tuesday that the Department of Education has yet to take advantage of a law passed four years ago authorizing development of underused public school lands to pay for campus upgrades.

The 2013 law, known as Act 155, was envisioned as a way to modernize public school facilities by allowing the DOE to monetize excess lands for public purposes — such as affordable housing — and use the money to build “21st century schools.” It established a pilot program requiring the DOE to lease up to three public school land sites; any proceeds can be spent only on construction and upgrades of new and existing school facilities.

The department to date has not recommended any pilot sites for the Board of Education’s approval. A bill awaiting Gov. David Ige’s signature would extend the deadline for the pilot program by five years, giving the department more time to implement the law.

Assistant Superintendent Dann Carlson, who joined the department in late 2014, told members of the board’s Finance and Infrastructure Committee on Tuesday that work has been progressing behind the scenes. He said the DOE has done preliminary analyses on two parcels in Honolulu that currently house office buildings and parking.

One potential pilot site is near Diamond Head at 475 22nd Ave. The 6.5-acre parcel houses staff for the DOE’s central Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Student Support in warehouse-type buildings across the street from the Hawaii National Guard Armory. It is valued for tax purposes at nearly $41.5 million.

The site could be used to develop at-market rental housing, said Dean Uchida, deputy manager for Hono­lulu-based SSFM, the department’s consultant on Act 155.

The second pilot site being eyed is at 1048 Young St. near Neal Blaisdell Center. The narrow 0.67-acre parcel is between a McDonald’s restaurant and the Honolulu Museum of Art School’s historic Linekona building. The site, which is valued for tax purposes at more than $6 million, houses offices for the DOE’s School Facilities and Support Services branch.

Given the lot’s small size, Uchida said the department has discussed possibly developing microunits — or small studio apartments — for workforce-housing rentals with the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., a state agency that facilitates affordable-housing development.

But talks have slowed because the site is owned by the city. Uchida said city administrators have expressed interest in taking back the site if it is redeveloped.

Several BOE members questioned why the department hasn’t identified any school campuses as potential pilot sites.

“To be very frank, it doesn’t seem like there’s been a lot of progress on this. … The idea was to look at underutilized school sites with high development potential — Waikiki Elementary School, some of the high schools in the urban core that have lots and lots of excess land — and see if those could be used as redevelopment sites, and make those facilities first class,” said BOE member Bruce Voss. “Why hasn’t the department identified any actual school sites that would fulfill the intent the Legislature had when they passed this law in the first place?”

Carlson said he has purposely stayed away from schools in urban Honolulu — where developers see the most potential — pending the completion of a school facilities master plan and demographics study to show areas of future population growth. He said he did not want to create a situation where the department tears down a school it ends up needing when families move into future developments along the city’s planned rail line.

“What I don’t want to do is give away a piece of land that we might be in desperate need of if we do experience the 39,000 additional units,” Carlson said, referring to the number of new residential units planned along the rail route from Kalihi to Ala Moana Center over the next two to three decades. An estimated 10,000 students are expected to enroll in urban Honolulu schools as the developments pop up.

BOE member Kenneth Uemura said the law allows for three scenarios on underused pubic school lands: building or renovating a 21st-century school; generating revenue through lease rent or development agreements; and a hybrid of revenue-generation activities with a new or renovated school.

“What’s wrong with identifying a school … versus waiting for a master plan that’s never going to come? To go and look at three sites that are non-school DOE facilities doesn’t really give us the meat of what we need for our pilot program,” Uemura said. “There’s a whole lot of things that Act 155 allows us to do and we’re really not taking advantage of that. … To say I’m not happy is really understating the whole thing.”

Carlson said it’s extremely difficult to close a school. Still, board members said they want to see a school site, perhaps on a neighbor island or a charter school, proposed for the pilot.

“Almost no one ever supports closing schools. And that’s why I want to see you guys push forward with the concept on a school site because when people can see the trade-off — that they can get a first-class, modern facility, fully air-conditioned, great learning spaces — then they can see that trade-off may be a good thing,” Voss said.