(a) A public charter school shall not discriminate against any student or limit admission based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, income level, disability, level of proficiency in the English language, need for special education services, or academic or athletic ability.
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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-34

  • Authorizer: means an entity established under this chapter with chartering authority to review charter applications, decide whether to approve or deny charter applications, enter into charter contracts with applicants, oversee public charter schools, and decide whether to authorize, renew, deny renewal of, or revoke charter contracts. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
  • charter: means a fixed-term, bilateral, renewable contract between a public charter school and an authorizer that outlines the roles, powers, responsibilities, and performance expectations for each party to the contract. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
  • Conversion charter school: means :

    (1) Any existing department school that converts to a charter school and is managed and operated in accordance with section 302D-13; or

    (2) Any existing department school that converts to a charter school and is managed and operated by a nonprofit organization in accordance with section 302D-13. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1

  • Department: means the department of education. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
  • Department school: means any school that falls within the definition of "public schools" as defined in § 302A-101 and that is not a charter school. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
  • public charter school: refers to those public schools and their respective governing boards, as defined in this section, that are holding current charter contracts to operate as charter schools under this chapter, including start-up and conversion charter schools, and that have the flexibility and independent authority to implement alternative frameworks with regard to curriculum, facilities management, instructional approach, virtual education, length of the school day, week, or year, and personnel management. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
  • Start-up charter school: means a new charter school established under section 302D-13 that is not a conversion charter school. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
(b) A start-up charter school:

(1) Shall be open to any student residing in the State who is entitled to attend a department school;
(2) Shall enroll all students who submit an application, unless the number of students who submit an application exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade level, or building; provided that a student who is currently enrolled in a charter school that has been notified of the prospect of revocation in accordance with section 302D-18, or is closing in accordance with § 302D-19, whichever occurs first, may be given first priority to enroll at another charter school to which the student applies, or placed at the top of the waitlist for enrollment;
(3) Shall select students through a public lottery if, as described in paragraph (2), capacity is insufficient to enroll all students who have submitted a timely application;
(4) May give an enrollment preference to students within a given age group or grade level and may be organized around a special emphasis, theme, or concept as stated in the charter school’s application and as approved by the charter school’s authorizer;
(5) May give an enrollment preference to students enrolled in the charter school during the previous school year and to siblings of students already enrolled at the charter school;
(6) May give an enrollment preference through a weighted lottery to educationally disadvantaged students. For the purposes of this paragraph:

“Educationally disadvantaged students” means students who are economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, migrant students, limited English proficient students, neglected or delinquent students, and homeless students.

“Weighted lottery” means any lottery that gives additional weight to individual students who are identified as part of a specified set of students but does not reserve or set aside seats for individual students or sets of students; and

(7) May give any other enrollment preference permitted by the charter school’s authorizer, on an individual charter school basis, if consistent with law;

provided that nothing in this subsection shall preclude the formation of a start-up charter school whose mission is focused on serving students with disabilities, who are of the same gender, who pose such severe disciplinary problems that they warrant a specific educational program, or who are at a risk of academic failure.

(c) A conversion charter school shall:

(1) Enroll any student who resides within the school’s former geographic service area pursuant to § 302A-1143, for the grades that were in place when the department school converted to a charter school; provided that the department may consult with a conversion charter school every three years to determine whether realignment of the charter school’s service area is appropriate given population shifts and the department’s overall service area reviews; and
(2) Be subject to subsection (b):

(A) For grades that were not in place when the school converted to a public charter school; and
(B) For any seats still available at the charter school after the enrollment of all students desiring to attend the charter school who reside within the school’s former geographic service area pursuant to § 302A-1143.
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