Laupahoehoe High and Elementary School on the Big Island will become a charter school in a year’s time after the Board of Education voted unanimously to approve the conversion. 

As a charter school, it will report to its own local school board rather than the state Board of Education. The campus, which has 231 students, will remain a public school open to all children in its area. 

The Board of Education voted last week to award the charter, overruling a decision by the Charter School Review Panel. The school will begin operations as a charter in August 2012.