Ke Ana La`ahana PCS

Kulia's Kuleana

David Thompson, Hana Hou! Magazine

Just after 9 a.m. on a sunny school day, the seventh- and eighth-grade classes of Ke Ana La‘ahana Public Charter School of Hilo pile out of an old yellow school bus, sling backpacks over their shoulders and start trudging down the wickedly steep four-wheel-drive road into Waipi‘o Valley. Nobody says much. It’s early yet, and the students have a long hike into the valley ahead of them. A cloud of adolescent crankiness follows as they clomp down the hill.

Kamehameha Schools pumps funds into sites of all sizes

Susan Essoyan, Star Advertiser

As schools of choice, startup charter schools must attract students to survive.

They depend largely on per-pupil money from the state, and without enough enrollment to cover their overhead, they risk going out of business.

"If you look at charter schools across the country, on average 10 percent of charters are revoked each year," said Rep. Roy Takumi, chairman of the House Education Committee. "Why? It's because they are meant to be experiments. There are going to be some successes and some failures.

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