Posted on: Thursday, November 22, 2001

Judge denies request to close charter school

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — A Big Island judge yesterday denied the state's request for a temporary restraining order to shut down the Waters of Life New Century Charter School.

Judge Riki May Amano ordered the school and the Department of Education to immediately begin mediation to resolve a dispute that includes a claim that $177,000 in public money was misspent.

It was another setback for the attorney general's office, which acted on behalf of the DOE when it filed a lawsuit in September seeking to close the school.

Waters of Life was housed at three Puna sites last year before moving to the Hawai'i Naniloa Hotel in Hilo, which the state claimed was a zoning violation. At a hearing last week, Amano ruled against the state on that point, saying the county has authority over zoning.

In the dispute over spending, both sides agreed the DOE's accounting rules are difficult to understand.

Amano yesterday asked Deputy Attorney General Steven Chang what the state had done to remedy the situation other than to seek closure of the school.

Chang replied, "They (the school officials) have been informed of the overspending and they haven't stopped." He said the deficit is growing by $3,500 a month.

Chang acknowledged other charter schools accused of overspending have not faced a shutdown.

Amano ordered mediation to commence as soon as possible and said if the two sides cannot agree on a mediator by tomorrow, she will appoint one for them. That came after Chang said, "I don't think the state (Department of Education) will agree to mediation."

The judge set a Dec. 31 deadline for the mediation process, and tentatively scheduled further hearings for Jan. 28-29.

Amano warned the school's attorney, Thomas Tsuchiyama of Honolulu, that yesterday's victory could be short-lived. "It would behoove the school to self-correct," she said.

Truitt White, director of Waters of Life, has said repeatedly the school can document all of its expenditures and that a careful accounting will prove there has been no fiscal impropriety.

Outside the courtroom, White said his school "did not overspend. We were underfunded."

That is partially true, according to Nina Buchanan, an educational psychologist at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo who works statewide with charter schools.

All but two of the state's 25 charter schools were given federal start-up grants of $97,000 for the first year and $107,000 for the second year. Waters of Life's request for the same money was denied by the DOE, she said.

Charter schools receive public money and operate under DOE authority, but have freedom to devise their own curriculum and budget.