What is a Charter School?
In Hawaii, charter schools are public schools, funded on a “per-pupil” allocation separate from the Department of Education. They are state-legislated, legally independent, innovative, outcome-based public schools operating under contract with the State Public Charter School Commisson (SPCSC).
How are charter schools different than traditional DOE schools? They operate on three basic principles:
Each charter school is directly overseen by its own governing board. Each governing board is under a performance contract with the SPSC which has oversight authority over each governing board.
See this link for information on ULS’ Governing Board.
University Laboratory School was granted a charter on August 16, 2001. As a charter school, ULS assumed independence from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM), but maintains its connections with the educational research and development community through a partnership with the UHM College of Education’s Curriculum Research & Development Group (CRDG). ULS long served as the real-world laboratory for CRDG research, development, and dissemination efforts; we continue to work in close partnership with our collaborators at CRDG, as well as engaging in research and professional development with other schools and organizations in Hawai‘i, nationally, and internationally.
ULS charter school serves two interlocking missions: to design and deliver the best possible education to our own students, and to serve the educational research and development community as a seedbed for curriculum research and development. ULS is the only school in Hawai‘i focused in part on supporting educational research and development, and disseminating educational materials and improvement strategies.
What is the ULS Foundation?
Last year, ULS announced the establishment of the University Laboratory School Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity. The purpose of the ULS Foundation is to build a financial endowment which will support the charitable, scientific, literary, or educational missions of the University Laboratory School.
Do ULS students have to pay tuition; how much does it typically cost (fees, books, etc.) a student to attend? Being a charter school, ULS is not authorized to charge tuition. ULS requests donations from all the families that have children attending the school. Donations vary substantially from family to family, but they do get quite a few donations throughout the year. Most are in range of about $100/month from families; all the way up to 10x that amount in some cases.
Go to this link at the ULS website for additional information about the foundation.
How are charter schools different than traditional DOE schools? They operate on three basic principles:
- Choice: Charter schools give families the opportunity to choose the school most suitable for their childeren’s educational well being. Teachers choose to create and work at schools where they directly shape the best working and learning environment for their students and themselves.
- Accountability: Charter schools are judged on how well they meet the academic, financial, and organizational performance expectations set forth in their charter performance contracts. Additionally, because charter schools are schools of choice, another measure of accountability is student enrollment - if students and their families are unhappy, they can choose to go elsewhere.
- Autonomy: While charter schools must adhere to the same federal laws and regulations and state standards as all other public schools, they have flexibility with curriculum and direct management of energy and resources, allowing them to be innovative.
Each charter school is directly overseen by its own governing board. Each governing board is under a performance contract with the SPSC which has oversight authority over each governing board.
See this link for information on ULS’ Governing Board.
University Laboratory School was granted a charter on August 16, 2001. As a charter school, ULS assumed independence from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM), but maintains its connections with the educational research and development community through a partnership with the UHM College of Education’s Curriculum Research & Development Group (CRDG). ULS long served as the real-world laboratory for CRDG research, development, and dissemination efforts; we continue to work in close partnership with our collaborators at CRDG, as well as engaging in research and professional development with other schools and organizations in Hawai‘i, nationally, and internationally.
ULS charter school serves two interlocking missions: to design and deliver the best possible education to our own students, and to serve the educational research and development community as a seedbed for curriculum research and development. ULS is the only school in Hawai‘i focused in part on supporting educational research and development, and disseminating educational materials and improvement strategies.
What is the ULS Foundation?
Last year, ULS announced the establishment of the University Laboratory School Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity. The purpose of the ULS Foundation is to build a financial endowment which will support the charitable, scientific, literary, or educational missions of the University Laboratory School.
Do ULS students have to pay tuition; how much does it typically cost (fees, books, etc.) a student to attend? Being a charter school, ULS is not authorized to charge tuition. ULS requests donations from all the families that have children attending the school. Donations vary substantially from family to family, but they do get quite a few donations throughout the year. Most are in range of about $100/month from families; all the way up to 10x that amount in some cases.
Go to this link at the ULS website for additional information about the foundation.