Hawaii Public Schools—Enrollment and Staffing From 1980 to 2004

This map series began as a request from the Governor's office for information on school enrollment trends from 1980 to the present. A set of 38 maps was created, generally one map per high school district. On each map, the elementary, middle, and high schools within the district were shown with a graph for each school depicting enrollment figures for 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2004. Subsequently, the Governor's office requested a second set of maps, in the same format, but this time showing school staffing for the same period. It is anticipated that this project will continue to evolve and that more maps will be developed.

The maps were used by the Governor's office in three ways. They provided general guidance on evaluating the requests from the State Department of Education for money for capital improvement projects. Because the data indicated where existing schools might be underused, they were able to refine the department's capital improvement requirements. The maps were also used to help the Hawaii Community Development Authority Board determine if the existing schools could handle additional children in the Kakaako district. There was a pending request to build a new school, but the data does not indicate this need is warranted. The same analysis was done for a proposed school project in West Hawaii—comparing the maps of supporting schools and what has happened to student enrollment figures over time. Finally, the maps helped identify surplus school buildings that could be used by other needy organizations such as preschools and charter schools.