Hawaii’s Public Charter Schools are governed by their respective Local School Board, the organization inspired to create, govern, and facilitate the academic program and financial and organizational oversight of the school. The LSB is the autonomous governing body for the school and is the entity created to guide the vision, mission and values of the school program while attaining the ability to proactively seek innovative solutions to provide the community a dynamic charter school program that is responsive to the needs of parent and students as true examples of schools of choice. A list of local school board members can be found here.

What is a local school board?

Local school board is defined in HRS 302B-1 as

• "the autonomous governing body of a charter school that receives the charter and is responsible for the financial and academic viability of the charter school, implementation of the charter, and the independent authority to determine the organization and management of the school, the curriculum, virtual education, and compliance with applicable federal and state laws, and that has the power to negotiate supplemental collective bargaining agreements with exclusive representatives of their employees."

Who serves on the local school board?

HRS 302B-7(a) says that, with the exeption of conversion charter schools that are run by a non-profit organization, the local school board has to have at least one representative from each of the following groups:

• the principal
• teachers
• support staff
• parents of students at the school
• the student body, and
• the community at large

Are there any restrictions on the role a local school board member can fulfill?

HRS 302B-7(b) says

• "No chief executive officer, chief administrative officer, executive director, or otherwise designated head of a school may serve as the chair of the local school board."

Does the Sunsine Law apply to local school boards?

No. HRS 302B-7(e) says that local school boards are exempt from Chapters 91 and 92, however the boards must make available their meeting notices, agendas, and minutes.

What does the law say about how and when the local school boards need to share these things?

The local school board must make meeting notices and agendas available at least six calendar days before a public meeting on the board's or charter school's website and CSAO's website. Notices and agendas also need to be publicly accessible at the board's or the CSAO"s office during regular business hours.

The local school board must make their minutes available "on a timely basis" on the board's or charter school's website and in the board's and CSAO's office during regular business hours. A list of local school board agendas and minutes can be found here.

Additionally, LSBs are required to post a list of their members and officers along with their contact information on the CSAO's website.

For the complete updated list of LSB members/officers for all the schools, click on the PDF attachment at the bottom of this page, "LSB Contact List.pdf".

Local School Board Training Resources:

Creating an Effective Charter School Governing Board

Created by the Charter Friends National Network, this primer covers all aspects of creating and maintaining a strong, effective local school board for a charter school.

Topics covered include:

• Identifying and recruiting board members
• Orienting and training board members
• Making effective decisions
• Strategic planning and thinking
• Carrying out legal and financial responsibilities
• Developing effective board-staff relations
• Developing fruitful board-community/parent relations
• Creating effective committees, and
• Developing effective board self-assessment

Creating an Effective Charter School Governing Board

A 34-page summary of the guidebook is also available as a PDF.

Charter Friends National Network, 2000