Public charter school enrollment increased by more than 17 percent this year, a change that is mostly being attributed to the conversion of Kamaile Elementary to a charter school, according to figures released by the state Department of Education.

Kamaile Elementary converted to a public charter school on Aug. 31.

Even without the conversion, charter schools would have experienced a 5.7 percent gain in enrollment this year, the DOE said. There are 6,657 public charter school students, compared to 5,678 students last year.

Overall, state public school enrollment dropped by a half-percent this year, to a total of 178,369 students, according to figures previously released by the DOE.

The final 2007-2008 official enrollment count for all public schools is posted at doe.k12.hi .us under the "News" section.