Issue – Kailua High School Audit

Senator Norman Sakamoto
October 27, 2006

In its first-ever management of a public school, State Auditor Marion Higa found serious problems at Kailua High School.1The audit found almost half of the school's inventory "may be fictious." It also found lax management of school equipment and financial donations. The problems found at Kailua High School may not be unique, and there are concerns that other schools may be unprepared to shoulder the burdens imposed by the recent educational reforms.

"Kailua High audit raises questions about reform," Honolulu Star-Bulletin

"Kailua High hit for fiscal management," Honolulu Advertiser

As Hawaii public schools move away from a centralized bureaucracy, more and more responsibilities will fall upon the shoulders of the local schools. To help Hawaii public schools meet the changing needs and growing demands of education in the twenty-first century, the Legislature in 2004 created the Hawaii principals academy to train school principals to take a more entrepreneurial approach.2Then in 2006, the Legislature created the position of chief financial officer for the Department of Education to help it manage its $2.2 billion budget.3Fiscal accountability goes along with academic accountability. Both are needed if we want to have academic excellence in our schools.

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1 Hawaii State Auditor, Management Audit of Kailua High School, Report No. 06-06, September 2006.

2 Act 51 (2004), Senate Bill 3238 (2004), Part IV "Principals." 

3 Act 151 (2006), House Bill 1865 (2006).   "James Brese Appointed as DOE Chief Financial Officer,"    DOE News Release, October 6, 2006.