Castle Foundation commits $10 million to public education

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Harold K.L. Castle Foundation is committing $10 million to Hawaii's public education over the next four years to provide meaningful support to the state's planned education transformation and the bold goals set out in its Race to the Top plan.

"Now is the time to transform our system into one that truly puts children first, builds teaching into a respected and effective profession, and recruits, trains and supports principals and complex area superintendents to create an organizational culture based on high performance," said Mitch D'Olier, president and CEO of the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation.

The announcement was made in the library of Royal School in front of a class of fifth graders, who are set to graduate from high school in the summer of 2018, the state's deadline for goals set in its Race to the Top plan.

"The State of Hawaii, the Board of Education and private philanthropies are all coming together for students," Gov. Neil Abercrombie said. "Everyone wants to see the success of our public schools, and having us all work toward the same goals is an important achievement."

This public-private partnership aims to help the state accomplish several goals included in its Race to the Top plan:

· Recruit, train and place 36 new "turnaround principals" in schools by 2014;

· Ensure that education administrators in every region are a part of a highly effective professional learning community by 2014;

· Accelerate the work of the Great Teachers and Great Leaders workgroup to maximize this group's ability to ensure that all goals are met;

· Support at least 55 percent of the principals leading high-poverty and/or high-minority schools being evaluated as effective by 2015; and

· Ensure that every new teacher will have a full-time, highly experienced and trained mentor by 2013.

"Partnerships are essential to developing a shared vision of student success and achieving sustainable change," said Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi. "By working together, we will continue to transform our public schools, achieve our Race to the Top goals and, in doing so, bolster the achievements of our students in college, career and life."

"Especially when it comes to educating our children, government cannot and should not do it alone," said state Sen. Jill Tokuda, who heads the Senate Education Committee. "Our ability to ensure that every child can and will succeed in school and in life is directly connected to private entities like the Castle Foundation stepping forward to help our students and school communities."