Over the next few years, the DOE will convert to a new student spending formula and new school community councils. The department is also changing student report cards to match the state's academic performance standards and raising middle school promotion and high school graduation requirements.

"We didn't want any uncertainty," said Harimoto, who pushed for the new contract. "We need continuity."

Hamamoto, who received a positive job evaluation from the board in June, was in the third year of a four-year contract that pays her $150,000 annually. Her new contract will run until 2008.

"For me, it's a commitment by the board to reinvention," Hamamoto said.

Hamamoto, a former principal at McKinley High School, is popular among educators but has spoken of change at a department that sometimes seems constricted by its size and bureaucracy. In June, she challenged school leaders to do better.

Her opposition to Gov. Linda Lingle's proposal to break the DOE into local districts with elected school boards carried weight among Democrats in the state Legislature, who ultimately rejected Lingle's plans. Some of her critics, including Republican lawmakers, have accused her of defending the status quo, but the sharpest attacks on the department have not been directed at her leadership.

Her new contract means that she could stay as superintendent during the remaining two years of Lingle's current term and through the terms of existing board members. The eight voting board members who attended last night's meeting voted unanimously for the new contract, and strong support from the board could give Hamamoto some protection from the politics of the job.

The dramatic firing of Evan Dobelle by the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents showed what could happen when the relationship between a chief executive and a board deteriorates. Hamamoto replaced Paul LeMahieu, who resigned in 2001 amid questions about his personal ties to a woman whose firm won a special-education contract.

Roger Takabayashi, president of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, said the new contract is a sign that the board and the superintendent want stability. "She's committed to improving student achievement," he said.

The school board also voted last night on the structure of a new committee that will help create the student spending formula. The formula will base school financing on student need, rather than school enrollment, and the committee will help assign a dollar value for different types of students, such as special education students or students learning English.

The committee could have as many as 40 members, including principals, teachers, parents and representatives from the business community. The committee will likely make recommendations to the board by October. The new formula will not take effect until the 2006-2007 school year.