Gov. David Ige on Wednesday announced his appointee picks for five seats on the state Board of Education and two seats on the University of Hawaii Board of Regents.
All of Ige’s appointments still must be approved by the state Senate.
Two of the BOE appointees are slated to replace members declining to continue with the volunteer board: Chairwoman Catherine Payne and Lyla Berg.
Payne, a career educator in Hawaii public schools, has served on the Board of Education since 2018. In a Honolulu Star-Advertiser interview Wednesday, Payne said while she had intended to leave after her three-year term, she agreed to a request from Ige to continue on a holdover basis so she could lead the ongoing search for Hawaii’s next permanent state schools superintendent.
The superintendent hiring process is expected to conclude with a board vote on a final selection in June. Payne will serve until June 30. Another veteran Hawaii educator, Ken Kuraya, will replace her July 1 and complete the term ending June 30, 2024. It will be up to Ige to choose a new BOE chairperson.
Payne said her departure will mark the end of her five decades of service with the state Department of Education. Her work led to advances at schools on the Waianae Coast as well as Olomana School and Farrington High School. Payne was a national Milken Educator Award winner and received the Principal of the Year Award from the National Association of Secondary School Principals.
“I do feel it is time to pass the torch,” Payne said of her BOE leadership role. She plans to spend time with family and consider how to continue serving the community in other capacities.
Kuraya has 40 years’ experience in various roles within the DOE, from the classroom to administration, the governor’s announcement said. Meanwhile, Berg’s appointment in October was meant to be only as an interim member until the end of the legislative session, Payne said.
Lauren Moriarty is being appointed to complete Berg’s three-year term representing Honolulu, ending June 30, 2024. Moriarty is a former U.S. ambassador, career diplomat and dean of academics at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. Berg will serve until the Legislature adjourns in May.
The nine-member volunteer Board of Education formulates educational policy for Hawaii’s public school system. The Hawaii DOE is widely considered the nation’s 10th-largest school system, with 257 regular public schools, 37 charter schools, 171,000 students, 42,600 full-time and part-time employees, and an annual operating budget of more than $2 billion.
Also, the board appoints the executive officers of the school system and public library system, and the members of the State Public Charter School Commission.
Ige’s other appointees for the BOE, all with three-year terms beginning July 1 and ending June 20, 2025, include:
>> Damien “Kaimana” Barcarse is being reappointed to the Hawaii County seat. Barcarse oversees initiatives for Kamehameha Schools. Additionally, he is a DJ and program producer of “Alana I Kai Hikina,” a radio show which broadcasts in the Hawaiian language on KWXX-FM.
>> Bruce Voss is being reappointed to an at-large seat. Voss is a partner with the law firm of Bays Lung Rose &Holma. Previously, he worked as a news reporter for Pacific Business News and KHON2 News.
>> N. Makana McClellan is being appointed to a Honolulu seat. She will fill the position currently held by Kenneth Uemura, who completes his term June 30. McClellan is the director of business development and community relations at Shriners Children’s Hawai‘i and a community volunteer.
Ige’s UH Board of Regents appointees, with five-year terms running until June 30, 2027, are:
>> Gabriel Lee, executive vice president of commercial markets at American Savings Bank, who has also worked in executive positions at First Hawaiian Bank and Bank of Hawaii. If confirmed, Lee will fill the at-large seat currently held by Benjamin Kudo.
>> Lori Tochiki, executive director of the nonprofit EPIC ʻOhana. She has also worked in multiple roles with the university’s William S. Richardson School of Law. If Tochiki is confirmed, she will take the Honolulu seat now held by Simeon Acoba.
The Board of Regents is composed of 11 volunteer regents who formulate policy and have exclusive jurisdiction over the internal structure, management and operation of the 10-campus UH system.
