Board of Education member Cec Heftel said he misspoke Tuesday when he told an audience of Rotarians that " ... we have a huge Hawaiian population that doesn't learn as easily as the typical Caucasian."

Heftel, 81, made the statement in a luncheon speech to the Rotary Club of Honolulu billed as a "Report Card on the BOE." Later he said that he meant to say Hawai'i's public education system, for whatever reason, "isn't appropriately addressing the needs" of Hawaiian children to the extent Hawaiian families are moving their children in droves into charter schools.

"The greatest amount of dissatisfaction is coming from Hawaiians," Heftel said. "That's not a racist statement. It's what I was trying to say when I misspoke."

Heftel, who spoke to the Rotary Club without notes or a text, said that currently the "backbone" of the charter school movement is made up of Hawaiian families.

"A great percentage of the charter schools have been formed by Hawaiian parents and educators because the Hawaiian children were not getting adequately educated in our traditional public schools," he said.

Jim Shon, charter schools executive director for the state Department of Education, said about one-third of the approximately 5,744 students in Hawai'i's charter schools are of Hawaiian ancestry and 14 of the 27 charter schools are Hawaiian focused, teaching the language and culture, among other elements.

Heftel said that he doesn't know the reasons some Hawaiian families are dissatisfied with traditional education, but "that's what we've got to find the answers to."

Heftel said the state has to continue to provide access to charter schools for families dissatisfied with the public schools, but the board also must find out what is missing for those families in the traditional education system.