The folks who run Hawaii's charter schools believe they are getting shortchanged by the state.

They claim lawmakers are not giving charter schools enough money. And unless something changes very soon they will have less money per student next year than they have this year.

Charter school teachers, principals and students took their fight for funding to the State Capitol Tuesday.

Armed with signs and united in song they gathered in the Capitol Rotunda. Their message to lawmakers, "allocate more money for charter schools and their students."

"This year we're getting just over $8,000 per student. If the budget numbers moving though the legislature don't go up, if we have to stay with the number that's being considered right now, we potentially could be down to $7,600 or even $7,100 per student. That's really a major decrease for us. Almost $1,000 decrease per student," said Reshela DuPuis, Executive Director of the Charter School Administrative Office.

In a way charter schools are a victim of their own success. Parents find charter schools attractive, so enrollment is up. And more public schools are joining the charter school movement.

The budget being considered for the 2008-2009 school year includes a $4.5 million increase for charter schools, but that is still not enough to compensate for the rise in the number of students.

"The impact is that some schools will have to have more students per classroom, will lose teacher positions, will lose whole programs," DuPuis told KGMB9.

A representative for Gov. Linda Lingle agrees, the current budget proposal is unfair to charter school kids.

"We're going to need more money, maybe in the order of 2.5 to 3 million dollars more," said Linda Smith, Gov. Lingle's Senior Policy Advisor.

But key lawmakers say finding that money with just more than two weeks left in the legislative session will be difficult if not impossible.

"I don't currently think the money is there. I think it's too late to be considered for this year. If the governor sends us down a message we will certainly take a look at it, but I ... you know, the state can not print money," said Sen. Rosalyn Baker, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Baker said charter schools are worth the investment. But money is tight and Baker told KGMB9 unless the governor finds the money by taking money away from other programs the charter schools will have to go without the funding everyone agrees they need.

Like other public schools, charter schools are funded by the state, but they enjoy more autonomy and are not under the direct control of the Department of Education.

There are 27 charter schools around the state this year.

Next year, two new schools will open as charter schools and a third will finish its conversion from "regular" public school to charter school.

According to the Charter School Administrative Office, there are currently 6,131 students in Hawaii charter schools. Next school year that number is expected to jump to an estimated 7,382 students.

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