Attorney, former news reporter Bruce Voss appointed head of Board of Education

Bruce Voss, a business litigation attorney and former television news reporter, has been appointed by Gov. David Ige to serve as the next chairperson of the state Board of Education, Ige announced Monday.

Starting July 1, Voss will lead the nine-member board that sets statewide educational policy for Hawaii’s public school system, the 10th largest school system in the nation, and appoints the state schools superintendent, state librarian and members of the state Public Charter School Commission.

Voss, who has served on the governor-appointed board since July 1, 2016, will succeed Catherine Payne as chairperson. Payne, a veteran Hawaii public schools educator, is stepping down from the board and retiring after her holdover term ends June 30.

Voss, 59, is a partner with the law firm of Lung Rose Voss &Wagnild, specializing in business, real estate, media, and employment law and litigation. He previously worked as a journalist for Pacific Business News and KHON2 News.

While he has not been an educator, his ties to Hawaii public schools run deep. Voss calls himself a “proud graduate” of Kalaheo High School and the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His wife, Liane Voss, has been an English teacher at Moanalua High School for 33 years, and their two sons are Moanalua graduates. Voss’ father was a math teacher at Kailua Intermediate School for nearly three decades. Voss credits many of his own public-school teachers with shaping him in his formative years.

“I’ve been involved in public education efforts for a very long time,” Voss said in an interview Monday with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “It’s absolutely true I’m not a teacher, but my experiences from a little kid to growing up in the system have made me want to make it better.”

The job of the board is massive: The state has 257 public schools and 37 public charter schools, more than 171,000 students; 22,600 permanent employees, and about 20,000 casual hires and substitute employees; and an annual operating budget of more than $2 billion.

Voss said that the board’s top priorities will include supporting interim state schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi as he segues into becoming the permanent superintendent and puts together a “new team and new systems” to support students. The board selected Hayashi over two other finalists in May for the permanent job, but his contract is still being negotiated.

Also a top priority, Voss said, is aiding students’ recovery from learning loss and social-emotional difficulty due to the pandemic, and making sure the $639.5 million in federal emergency pandemic aid allotted to the state Department of Education is spent well and before its deadlines.

Developing a long-­overdue strategic plan for the schools is imperative, Voss said. The last strategic plan was meant to cover 2017-20; creation of a replacement was delayed by the pandemic and by rifts between the board and previous superintendent Christina Kishimoto.

Voss also said he’ll encourage more open communication at all levels, “between parents and schools, between schools and administration … we need to do a better job of getting information out in an understandable and timely way.” He said the board will resume holding its required six public meetings per year, starting with the first this summer; they had been preempted by the pandemic, he said.

Ige recently reappointed Voss to a third term on the board, starting on July 1, 2022, and ending on June 30, 2025. Voss has served as chair of the board’s Finance and Infrastructure Committee.

Board members will elect a vice chairperson to succeed current Vice Chairperson Kenneth Uemura, whose term also ends June 30.