Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 11, 1 November 2005 — OHA to give $4.4 million to Hawaiian charter schools [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA to give $4.4 million to Hawaiian charter schools

By Derek Ferrar Public lnfūrmatiūn Specialist In one of the largest single funding awards ever bestowed by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, OHA's Board of Trustees voted on Oct. 6 to give up to $2.2 million for eaeh of the next two years to 14 Hawaiian-focused public charter schools, for a total of up to $4.4 million. The funds will be dispersed to the schools based on their size and proportion of Native Hawaiian students. "This is tmly a commitment by the OHA trustees to support the success of our Hawaiian children in the charter school setting," said Board of Trustees Chairperson Haunani Apohona. "We're grateful that Kamehameha Schools also supports charter schools, and we hope that other community partners will also help increase funding for the schools." Fourteen, or slightly more than half, of the state's 27 charter schools are considered "Hawaiian-focused." Four of these schools are Hawaiian language immersion; another two offer bilingual instruction in both Hawaiian and English or offer Hawaiian iimnersion strands; and eight schools offer instruction primarily in English, although most also offer Hawaiian language classes. Most are members of the Native Hawaiian charter school hui, Nā Lei Na'auao. "We are very excited about OHA's ongoing coimnitment to fund our work, and we look forward to continuing our significant contribution to Native Hawaiian education," said Nā Lei Na'auao founder Kū Kahakalau. "We are still under-funded,

but this definitely helps us carry out our mission." The Hawaiian-focused charter schools are: on Kaua'i: Ke Kula Ni'ihau o Kekaha, KANAKA, Kanuikapono; on O'ahu: Ke Kula o Kamakau, Hakipu'u Learning Center, Hālau Kū Māna, Hālau Lōkahi, Ka Waihona o ka Na'auao; on Moloka'i: Kualapu'u; on Hawai'i island: Kua o ka Lā, Ke Kula o Nāwahlokalani'ōpu'u, Ke Ana La'ahana, Kanu o ka 'Āina, Ka 'Umeke Ka'eo. During the current school year, nearly 1,700 students attend these schools, of whieh approximately 93 percent of are of Hawaiian ancestry. All 14 Hawaiian-focused public charter schools face financial difficulties that remain unresolved by the state Legislature. Many laek adequate physical facilities, and all suffer from restrictions on their ability to access quality educational equipment, materials and resources. Due to this severe fiscal crisis, a significant number of the schools may even face the prospect of closing entirely in the near future. OHA's grant seeks to help the situation by providing emergency stop-gap funding for a period of two years. The agency will also eonhnue to advocate for appropriate and fair legislative funding for Hawaiianfocused charter schools. In addition to the overall charter school appropriation, the board also separately approved a $50,000 award for roof repair to Ke Kula Ni'ihau o Kekaha, a Hawaiianlanguage immersion school that serves children of Ni'ihau families living on Kaua'i. E3

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Students from Kanu o ka 'Āina Charter School peiform fheir an annual hō'ike, whieh is used as a performance-based assessmenf of what they learn throughout the school year. Kanu is one of 1 4 Hawaiian-focused charter schools that will receive funding from OHA. - Photo: KW0Archive