The Pentagon yesterday announced a new plan to streamline the transition of military children from schools in one state to another with the hope that Hawai'i will be one of the first to sign on.

But officials here expressed reservations, and said at the very least, they will have to see more details before agreeing to any changes.

David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, met with Gov. Linda Lingle and Adm. Timothy J. Keating, head of U.S. Pacific Command, before outlining plans for the interstate compact for educating children of military members.

Hawai'i is ninth among states in the number of military personnel and family.

Between June 2006 and June 2007, approximately 175,000 military dependents between ages 5 and 18 moved from one household to another in the United States and overseas.

"Military households move around frequently — often every two or three years," Chu said during a visit to O'ahu. "That is certainly a headache for the spouse, but it's also a challenge for the children because they have to go to a different school system."

Setting aside social adjustments, states have differing policies governing at which age children can start kindergarten, and in which sequence math should be taught.

There is sometimes the need to take state history courses in multiple states, and varying graduation requirements, among a long list of disparities from one state to the next.

"The challenge our military children face is that they have been meeting all requirements when they were in state A, and they moved to state B, and now they have to start all over again," he said.

SORE SUBJECT

It's been a sore subject with military families for years, and increasingly so with more marriages and children in an all-volunteer force.

"When you mention this subject with senior military personnel," Chu said, "you immediately almost always get a story of resentment of, 'My son, my daughter couldn't do — fill in the blank, couldn't take the (advanced placement) course, couldn't qualify for high school graduation on time, had to take state history for the third or fourth time.'"

The new interstate compact would require, in some cases, that receiving schools accept the standards of previous schools. Schools would be required to provide records in a "timely manner," and if an official record can't be produced fast enough by a school, an unofficial copy would suffice for placement at first.

Chu said with legislative approval in at least 10 states, the compact would be brought into force.

"Family issues are crucial to the willingness of our people to serve."

So far, though, Hawai'i is taking a cautious approach.

"In general, it sounds like a lot of things that we already provide," said state Department of Education spokesman Greg Knudsen. "But when you look at some of the real specific details, it seems a little bit inflexible, so there may be some cautions about getting too committed."

FEW DETAILS

Knudsen said there was a breakfast discussion of the education compact, but not much detail was provided.

"There still hasn't been a real sit-down discussion on all those matters," he said.

Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, the state adjutant general, said during a meeting with Lingle, Chu was updated on progress the state has made in working with the military on school transition.

"The DOE over the past year, we really felt, has gotten a lot more flexible on transfers," Lee said. "We said we certainly want to look at (the compact). The devil's in the details ... but we understand the detailed proposal for this compact is quite a few pages, so we're going to have to review that along with the Department of Education."

State Rep. K. Mark Takai, D-34th (Newtown, Waiau, Pearl City), said, "I think it's nice to hear Dr. Chu talk about the positive things that might happen in the area of educating military children in the United States, but until we see the final documents, I think it's a little bit too early to suggest that Hawai'i is going to be the first state to adopt the compact."

TRANSITIONS ARE KEY

The Pentagon identified 10 key issues of importance to military members and their families, and among the most important is school transition.

Chu said the Defense Department tried to address the issue "state-by-state, and decided after two or three years, that's not going to work." California is among states that have shown a strong interest in the compact, he said.

"It's a voluntary compact — states have to decide if they wish to join. This is not the heavy hand telling people what they have to do," he said, adding that a "good deal of the compact is agreement among the states to work these issues out."

But Knudsen said through the already-existing Joint Venture Education Forum, the state has a strong relationship with the military.

"I don't know where else you might find a uniformed military person who actually has a seat at the table at every board of education meeting," Knudsen said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.