Board of Education
The Hawaii State Board of Education’s mission is to equip all public school students with the skills and knowledge required to lead them into lives of responsible citizenship.
The board develops statewide educational policy, adopts standards for student achievement, monitors school success, appoints the superintendent of education and oversees the public library system. It also develops curriculum, proposes the education budget and participates in collective bargaining between Hawaii and the teachers union.
Hawaii State Constitution Article 10 outlines the board’s powers. The board’s general business meetings are held at 1:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of every month, at the Queen Liliuokalani Building in downtown Honolulu unless otherwise noted. Minutes from past meetings are posted online.
In recent years, the board has been trying to guide Hawaii’s public education system through federal requirements established by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act. Since 2007, the school system’s progress has flagged under annual requirements that are becoming increasingly challenging. At the same time, the board has had to deal with state-imposed budget cuts.
