Momentum is growing among military families to create the first charter school in Hawai'i dedicated to serving military children and teaching a curriculum common to Department of Defense schools around the world.

The school would be on or near Schofield Barracks in Wahiawa and is envisioned as the first step toward building a nationwide system of schools for military dependents.

Petitions are circulating at Schofield Barracks and on other bases to gauge support, and a $25,000 grant from the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation is being used to explore options.

Military parents say the move is not necessarily a rejection of Hawai'i's public schools, although military families have long been critical of the state's education system. Rather, it would offer parents another choice— one with a consistent educational philosophy they could count on and understand no matter where they're assigned.

It would help their children adjust, they say, and even offer the state another curriculum choice for its public schools.

"We just need that standard across the board to be the same," said military mother Danta Simonsen, who is home-schooling her 13-year-old daughter after pulling her out of public school because the child was far ahead of what was being taught and growing bored.

"When they're not learning anything, children have a tendency to stray off and do other things like chat with each other," Simonsen said. "I definitely felt a concern there."

Next year Simonsen hopes to send her daughter to the military charter school, if it can be launched in time and can clear innumerable hurdles, including a cap on charter schools set by state law at 23 and which already has been reached.

Theresa Rudacille, a military wife and volunteer with the conservative/libertarian advocacy group Grassroot Institute, is leading the charge to create a pilot DOD charter school in Hawai'i as a first step to building a nationwide system of schools for military dependents. The hope is to offer a curriculum based on more traditional teaching methods of drilling and memorization found in DOD schools at military installations around the world.

The DOD already provides schools for dependents whose families are stationed overseas, plus a few within the continental United States. But the agency has been looking to divest itself of its U.S.-based schools rather than acquiring more.

Rudacille is convinced that having schools in Hawai'i with the standard DOD curriculum would be the best way to serve children of military families who come to the Islands.

"The goal is to create a baseline standard curriculum the kids could rotate with," said Rudacille, a mother of three.

"The argument isn't which system is better," she said of the Hawai'i and the traditional DOD education programs. "It gives the child consistency so that the second grade in Kansas is the same as second grade in Hawai'i and second grade in Japan and second grade in Germany."

There are about 14,000 military dependents in Hawai'i public schools, with about 1.3 million military dependent children worldwide.

The proposed school would not be limited to military children, but would be located in an area where enrollment is primarily military.

Rudacille said she knows of military parents who have turned down assignments in Hawai'i based on their perception of the state's schools. For her three children Rudacille chose private schools because she wanted a more traditional education rather than Hawai'i's progressive curriculum that she feels doesn't concentrate enough on drilling.

"We need to have choices for parents," she said. "Depending on your child's personality or your child's needs, different teaching methods work better and the people who know what's better for their kids are parents."

Although Hawai'i charter schools have reached the limit of 23, action by the state Legislature in the coming session could raise the cap. Gov. Linda Lingle has expressed support for raising it, but lawmakers may fight the governor on this unless she can defend the performance of existing charters. In general, test scores of students in charter schools equal those in regular public school, and in some cases far exceed them.

A newly released report by the Hawai'i Economic Momentum Commission recommends that pilot schools on military bases be allowed to adopt the comprehensive federal curriculum taught at DOD schools because the students are predominantly military dependents.

"We understand military parents would welcome this change," the report noted.

It also notes that students taught with this curriculum "consistently perform above national standards."

In the most recent national reading scores released by the National Center for Education Statistics, scores at DOD schools were above the national average, with students outscoring those in 38 states. In reading, fourth-graders scored 226 compared with the national average of 217 on a scale of 500. Hawai'i public fourth-graders scored 210, among the worst eight states in the nation.

Department of Education spokeswoman Sandy Goya said the DOE would support the concept of a military charter school and is looking for ways to assist.

"There's a process in place (to convert to a charter school) and the department supports the process," Goya said. "In regards to a DOD curriculum, the department is reviewing the DOD curriculum with our state standards and identifying areas we would need to provide additional support to best provide students with a seamless transition in and out of our public schools."

While there is a cap by law on full charter schools, there's none on conversion charter schools, and any school has the option to pursue conversion.

"The decision to convert to a charter is left to the school," Goya said. However, the school's principal and 50 percent of the teachers must be in favor.

The DOE also has grants available of $100,000 and up to help proposed charter or conversion charter schools with planning.

Jim Shon, executive director of the Charter School Administrative Office within DOE, said there is more than $1 million available for charter school planning that can help parents look at the financial and academic issues they would face, as well as how they would attract teachers. But he questions how easy it would be to get a grant for a new charter without first having the cap lifted.

As the administrator for charter schools, he said he would welcome an application from military parents.

"As someone who would be involved in reviewing the application, we'd welcome any that demonstrate that a group had thought through and really planned their fiscal and academic program and their ability to acquire highly qualified teachers," Shon said.

Charter schools this year received $5,600 per pupil enrolled, Shon said, noting that if funded appropriately the amount should have been $6,500 per child.

But Shon cautioned: "One hurdle in everybody's mind is how can we ensure the money will follow the enrollment.

"A new school without full funding waters everybody else's per pupil allotment down. That's a constant concern people have who are in existing charters. It's up to the Legislature whether they will automatically fund a new school's enrollment."

Military mom Kim Wanovich doesn't have time to ponder those problems. With four children ages 9, 7, 5 and 3, her concern is making their educations successful.

"I've always thought, 'Gee, I wish we had a national curriculum and a national calendar year,' " she said. "And what a wonderful thing for the teachers too — to know exactly where the children are and what they've completed."

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.