Dozens of letters from public school students have poured into the state Capitol in support of giving the state Board of Education's student member the right to vote.

Lawmakers are debating four separate measures that would give the BOE's student member voting power, something that is barred under the state Constitution. The measures would call for a ballot question in the 2010 election to let voters decide whether the student representative on the BOE should be allowed a say on key education policy issues.

"Students are absolutely capable of digesting the information and putting forth a vote," said Kim Coco Iwamoto, state BOE member who supports giving the student member full voting rights.

"It's demoralizing for the students" to have a representative without that right, Iwamoto said.

The BOE is made of up of 13 elected members and one student. Four bills making their way through both the state House and Senate would give the student member varying degrees of rights from full voting power to voting rights that exclude certain issues, such as personnel or budget decisions.

Handwritten letters on notebook paper from students have made their way to the state Capitol lobbying in support of the measures.

"The student member works just as long and hard and understands policies, making him or her qualified to make educated decisions," wrote Matthew Howard, a Mililani High School senior. "Providing this privilege will allow the students of Hawai'i to let their voices be heard."

This is not the first time that the idea of granting the student member voting rights has been proposed, said Rep. Roy Takumi, chairman of the House Education Committee.

"It's come up every year for as long as I've been here," said Takumi, who was first elected to the state House 17 years ago.

Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Momilani, Pacific Palisades), said there are several reasons why previous bills have not successfully made their way through the Legislature.

"In some years it depends on the philosophical approach of the (chairman of the Judiciary Committee). They may feel that it's not wise having a minor on the board voting on matters in theory ... that board members could get sued for," Takumi said.

Takumi said there are many school districts across the country that have voting student members, but they are excluded from votes on personnel issues.

The BOE's Committee on Legislation voted to support Senate Bill 798 and 799, which proposes a state constitutional amendment to make the student member an elected official and grant him or her limited voting power.

But Karen Knudsen, BOE vice chairwoman, said she's only cautiously supporting the proposal.

"I just have concerns about having a young person be subjected to many of the pressures from the outside — and from each other — to vote in certain ways," Knudsen said.

Current BOE student member Jonathan Allen, a senior at Kapolei High School, said students would accept limited BOE voting rights as a compromise. He said there were several issues over the last two years that he would have wanted to vote on.

"When the board changed the graduation requirements, that directly affected students. If I had the right to vote, I would have voted no," Allen said.

Last year the BOE voted to increase the number of credits for its "College and Career Ready Diploma" from 24 to 25. The diploma requires students to take higher levels of math and English.