Ex-Kane'ohe Ranch CEO to lead schools in implementing reforms
Advertiser Staff
Randy Moore, the former CEO of Kane'ohe Ranch who left the business world in 2001 to become a public school math teacher, has become the state's point man for implementing the education reform bill passed by the 2004 Legislature.
Schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto asked Moore to take on the job and he accepted, leaving his teaching job at Central Middle School two weeks ago, he said last night.
Moore
Moore will supervise the Department of Education's transition to school financing and governance changes mandated by the Reinventing Education Act.
"It's a tre-mendous cultural change in the Department of Education," Moore said.
"You've heard the analogy, it's like trying to change a tire while the car is traveling down the freeway," he said. "Well, this is like changing not only the tire, but the driver, the engine, the fenders — it's a whole different vehicle by the time you get there."
The bill changes the way education is financed in Hawai'i by distributing money to schools based on the specific needs of their students. It also creates community councils that will play a role in each school's academic and fiscal governance.
Under the act, principals will have control of at least 70 percent of their operating budget.
Asked when changes will be evident at the classroom level, Moore said, "The real change will probably not be apparent for a couple of years." But he said "the level of support (within the DOE) has been just tremendous."
