GOP: WE MUST EXPAND CHARTERING AUTHORITY

IF NEW CENTURY CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE GOING TO GIVE PARENTS AND STUDENTS CHOICES, THEN WE NEED TO HAVE MORE THAN JUST THE BOE AS THE APPROVING AUTHORITY

"The basic reason to have charter schools is to increase school choices for both parents and students. Following that, it is imperative that we increase the number of school-launching or authorizing agencies within the state. When the charter school idea was first conceived, the aim was to remove the exclusive franchise to authorize new schools from school boards. In states where the charter school movement is flourishing, there are provisions for all types of chartering authorities including county councils, universities, corporations, and in many cases, a special Charter School Commission. The latter is what we are proposing today.

"There must be at least one additional approval agency beyond the Board of Education. Unless there is, there can be no appeal for applicant groups and no incentives for the board to authorize a set of schools beyond its control. Hawaii's charter laws are rated as fourth weakest in the nation. One of the reasons we received such a low grade is because we are the only state with charter laws to have only one chartering authority.

"If we truly want to provide greater school choices for our keiki, then we must expand to more entities, the authority to establish charter schools."