The conflict surrounding the decentralization of
school governance in the U.S. has resulted from
widespread discontent with educational outcomes and
frustration with government-professional bureaucracy.
Under attack are closed, professional decision making
by government bureaucracy, disempowerment of local
stakeholders and low student achievement levels.
As the most highly centralized educational system in
the U.S., Hawai'i attempted to change the structure
of governance from a highly centralized to shared
decision-making model with the passage of Act 51
(HRS, 2004) and charter school legislation (Act 272,
SLH, 1994). This legislation attempted to generate
changes in beliefs and cultural paradigms at the
school level in spite of a number of studies
indicating the difficulty in implementing reforms
that increase democratic decision making in a state
where structures for grass-roots political
participation are lacking.
This work consists of a historical review of
Hawai'i's experience with educational
decentralization, and attempts to discern how the
rhetoric of school governance change at the systemic
level translates into changes in practices at local
school levels.
school governance in the U.S. has resulted from
widespread discontent with educational outcomes and
frustration with government-professional bureaucracy.
Under attack are closed, professional decision making
by government bureaucracy, disempowerment of local
stakeholders and low student achievement levels.
As the most highly centralized educational system in
the U.S., Hawai'i attempted to change the structure
of governance from a highly centralized to shared
decision-making model with the passage of Act 51
(HRS, 2004) and charter school legislation (Act 272,
SLH, 1994). This legislation attempted to generate
changes in beliefs and cultural paradigms at the
school level in spite of a number of studies
indicating the difficulty in implementing reforms
that increase democratic decision making in a state
where structures for grass-roots political
participation are lacking.
This work consists of a historical review of
Hawai'i's experience with educational
decentralization, and attempts to discern how the
rhetoric of school governance change at the systemic
level translates into changes in practices at local
school levels.