Posted on: Tuesday, October 8, 2002

Hawai'i gets grant for charter schools

Associated Press

Hawai'i has been awarded nearly $4.4 million in federal grant money to help set up new public charter schools, the U.S. Department of Education announced yesterday.

"We're really excited," said Charles Higgins, public charter schools program specialist for the state Department of Education. "We can have 23 additional charter schools in Hawai'i, and this will help tremendously in establishing those."

The $4,368,421 awarded to Hawai'i will be made available on a competitive basis as grants to public schools that want to convert to charter status, he said. The state hopes to offer about $100,000 per year to each successful applicant, Higgins said.

"The money can only be used to create new charter schools," he said. "These are seed moneys. They cannot be used for daily operations.

"People can look and see how they can become a charter school, how that might improve their instructional program, and look at providing training to support teachers in developing innovative curriculum."

Hawai'i has 25 charter schools, and the Legislature this year authorized a total of 48.

A previous federal grant of $450,000 over a three-year period went to existing charter schools, he said. "We were very, very lucky to be included in the next three-year cycle," Higgins said.

The state expects to solicit proposals this month, and applicants will probably have until January to submit their proposals, he said.

Higgins could not speculate on how many or which schools might be interested in becoming charter schools. Schools that have been identified as needing improvement might choose to apply in an effort to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Charter schools are public schools operating under a contract, or charter, that is created by groups of parents, teachers, administrators and others who want to provide alternatives within the public school system.

Of the state's 25 charter schools, about half are based on Hawaiian culture and language, and the remainder are "all unique," Higgins said.

"That's the purpose of charter schools — to create innovative schools that can be a catalyst for change in our system and improve the quality of education that we have in Hawai'i."

The Hawai'i money is part of $71 million in new grants for 18 states announced yesterday by U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. An additional $119 million is also being awarded in second- and third-year financing.