This was a teachable moment — not strictly for students, in this instance, but for the educators in charge of their learning. The lesson appears to be: Follow the rules, as there is taxpayer money and the children’s education, at stake.

The legal standoff between Kamalani Academy and the supervising State Public Charter School Commission came to a head in recent weeks. The commission decided in February against renewing the Wahiawa-based charter school’s contract, citing what it described as contract violations. This could have forced Kamalani to close in June, upending plans for the families of its roughly 160 students.

But the resulting school protest led to a first-ever quasi-judicial appeal before the state Board of Education, which on Thursday voted to reverse the commission’s decision.

The students, families and staffers crowded into the public hearing were jubilant, naturally, but they should not overlook the subtext that came with the happy news. Bruce Voss, the BOE chairman, spelled it out, describing the outcome as a “fresh start” for both the school and the commission, and pointed to mistakes by either side.

And they both need to hit the reboot button.

For the commission’s part, as the school board indicated, proper procedure was not followed. Voss said the commission had based its decision against Kamalani’s contract renewal on problems that had not been raised in an earlier performance evaluation, and it did not adequately describe the violations.

These are technicalities, perhaps, but that matters in the delivery of due process that the school deserved.

Unrelated but disturbing stumbles by the commission’s former chief also should be underscored.

The state Ethics Commission last week settled with Sione Thompson, the Charter School Commission’s executive director from September 2016 through February 2020 who admitted to conflict-of-interest violations, taking actions affecting three nonprofits to which he served on a board. He also failed to report his competing interests.

Of course, neither did Kamalani Academy itself follow protocols — challenging as that was during the turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part of the Charter School Commission’s critique of Kamalani rested on its launch of full or partial online learning in 2020 as the coronavirus posed risks to in-person classes. In 2021, the commission ruled that Kamalani did not have authority to open a new virtual, blended or alternate program without amending its charter.

The commission reduced the school’s enrollment count as a result, which led to a loss of $1.4 million in state revenue allotted to the academy.

There were other missteps listed as well. Kamalani officials did not release students to other schools unless the school-issued laptops were returned and reported inaccuracies in student records; there also were allegations that a teacher’s license did not cover all grades she taught and failure to follow an admission policy approved by the commission.

Charter schools are given leeway in the design of their educational model, enabling a welcome degree of variety in the public-education realm. There are culturally-focused charters, schools with an emphasis on technology or a specific mode of instruction. Some serve specific geographic districts that otherwise have few options.

They give parents a choice, families that can only afford a public education.

But following best practices in school management is crucial. This responsibility falls on all actors in the system.

To maintain good charter-school options, the state’s limited funds must be spent wisely, and oversight must intensify. Being forewarned by the Kamalani episode, the public hopes that the school board will continue to ride herd on the system.