HONOLULU -- A KITV4 investigation revealed half of the children of state lawmakers attend private school, which is three times the rate of the rest of Hawaii’s school-aged population. And nearly two-thirds of state lawmakers never had a child enrolled in the public school system they oversee.

KITV4 surveyed nearly 100 state legislators, Board of Education members and key members of the governor’s cabinet to find out where they send or sent their children to school.

The survey found 50 percent of the children of state lawmakers attend public schools and the other half go to private schools. That's three times the rate of private school attendance compared to children statewide. About 16.5 percent of the school-aged children in Hawaii attend private schools.

Lawmakers help to oversee 280 public schools and a $1.2 billion annual Department of Education budget.

"It's very frustrating, as a parent, but it's not surprising to me because they have the means, more than the average person does," said Ann Davis of Kailua, the parent of a public school student and co-leader of the group Hawaii Education Matters.

Davis said it is hard for state officials who do not have children, or those who send them to private school, to be in touch with public education.

"It affects you in a very different way when your child is in a public school and it's in your face, every day. And every day you're having to deal with the repercussions of a broken education system, a furlough day," Davis said. Because of state budget cuts, public schools have been closed 17 Fridays in the past school year, known as “Furlough Fridays.”

House Speaker Calvin Say (D-St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley), sent one son to private school and another to public school. He agreed that there is a big difference if public officials enroll their offspring in the public education system.

"It does have a major impact in their understanding of what the overall operations of the classroom, and then what a school is like," Say said.

(Find out where your state representatives sends his/her children.)

Say's wife is a third grade teacher at Lanakila Elementary School, a public school. He said their son, who graduated from Moanalua High School, would routinely quiz him about public school problems.

"You know, Daddy, what's wrong? What's happening? Why are you cutting back in the utilities? Why are you cutting back in the school lunch program?" he said.

KITV4’s survey also found 61 percent of state representatives and senators never had a child in the public school system. They either have no kids, have children who are too young to be school-age or they've sent all their children to private schools.

Say reacted to those figures by saying, "If we were more actively involved in the public school system, the furlough issue could have been addressed much more quickly."

State House Education Committee Chairman Roy Takumi (D-Pearl City, Pacific Palisades) sent both his children to public schools. But the vice chair of his committee, Rep. Lyla Berg (D-Niu Valley, Aina Haina, Kahala), enrolled her son in private school.

"I needed to have my son in a school that could nurture his musical talents and his athletic abilities, even as an elementary school student. There are very few elementary schools that are staffed with artistic programs, music programs or athletic programs," Berg said.

Berg was a teacher and administrator in the Hawaii public school system for 17 years, serving as principal at Kailua Intermediate and vice principal at Molokai High and Intermediate School.

"I think it's important for my colleagues and for all of us community people to be as connected with our public schools as we can be, even if our children don't go there," Berg said.

State Sen. Mike Gabbard (D-Kapolei, Waikele) is a member of the Senate Education Committee. He and his wife, Carol, who's a former Board of Education member, home-schooled all five of their children.

"We felt that we wanted to have a spiritual component, in terms of the schooling, in addition to the academics, so we wanted to be able to have prayer and read from scripture, and so that's why we decided to home school our kids," he said.

Gabbard said he stays in touch with public schools by occasionally serving as a substitute teacher. He said his most recent stint was about a year ago at Kapolei Middle School.

(Find out where your state senator sends his/her children.)

"I had five classes of seventh-graders. Got home at three in the afternoon, Carol said 'How are you doing, honey?' I tell you, I went inside, took a four-hour nap, and I came out and said 'Wow.' And so I appreciate what teachers, what they go through," Gabbard said.

Parents of students at Noelani Elementary School, a public school in Manoa, have differing views on officials choosing private schools for their children.

Angie Silva of Manoa, whose daughter is a Noelani student, said, "It does say a lot on their decisions. It doesn't seem like they care. They can say they care, but if their kids aren't in the school, why would they?"

"I think it's their own choice, you know. You have the choice to do what you want, and if that's how they want to do it, you can't say anything about it," said Primo Lagundino of Manoa, whose two daughters attend Noelani.

KITV4’s survey also asked Gov. Linda Lingle and her key cabinet members about where they sent their kids to school. But KITV4 found four of the governor's six top officials involved in public education -- the attorney general, her senior policy advisor, the human resources director and the governor herself --have no children.

(Find out where the Cabinet members and BOE members send their children. )

Lingle’s budget director, Georgina Kawamura, sent her two children to public school on Maui. Lt. Gov. James Duke Aiona's four children are enrolled in private schools.

Board of Education members, who oversee public school policies, send 83 percent of their children to public schools.

BOE Chairman Garett Toguchi said his son Steele, 3, will go to public schools, like both his parents.

"I think that there would be much more of a commitment and a determination to improve the public schools, knowing that your own child is going to go through that system. It makes the sense of urgency that much more real to you," Toguchi said.

Punahou Top Choice Among Private Schools

The survey of legislators found nearly one-quarter of their kids attend Punahou School, one of the state's oldest and most prestigious private schools.

Twenty-five children of legislators -- 23 percent of them -- went to or are enrolled at Punahou, which charged an annual tuition of $17,300 this year.

State Senate Education Committee Chairman Norman Sakamoto (D-Kalihi, Salt Lake, Aiea) sent his three children to Punahou. He said he and his wife made that decision long ago, before he was elected to office.

"I think most parents decide what's best for their child. And certainly, as a dad, each child is different, so there's no one-size-fits-all," Sakamoto said.

Sakamoto claimed he's still in touch with the public school system, even though his children were never enrolled in it.

"I've been education chair for 10 years, and people come up to us, people talk to us. We have relatives. We have a relative who's a principal, several relatives that are teachers, so I believe we're still in touch," he said.

State Sen. Brian Taniguchi (D-Manoa) sent both of his kids to public schools.

"If your children go to public schools, I think you're probably more involved in the schools and I think you get a better feel for stuff,” Taniguchi said.

Public school parent activist Jo Curran, co-leader of the group Hawaii Education Matters, said public officials who send their kids to private schools are sending a message: "I think what they say is, 'Well, it's good enough for you, but I'm not putting my kids there.'"

Debbie Berger, a parent of two private school children, disagrees. She heads a private charity called The Learning Coalition, which works to improve public awareness about the Board of Education.

"It's not just about where your kids go to school or where you went to school, it should be important to every single person that's participating in the state of Hawaii, so I don't think it's that relevant," Berger said.

While 25 kids of lawmakers were students at Punahou, the next biggest group, eight, attended religious schools such as Maryknoll or Saint Louis.

Private Schools Of Choice:
Punahou School 25 children
Maryknoll School 8 children
Saint Louis School 8 children
Iolani School 4 children
Kamehameha Schools 2 children
Hawaii Prep Academy 2 children

Four legislators’ children went to Iolani School, and two each to Kamehameha Schools and Hawaii Prep Academy on the Big Island.

That means nearly half the kids of legislators who went to private schools attended or go to Punahou, according to KITV4's survey.

KITV4 News conducted a similar survey in 2003, which found that 53 percent of the lawmakers sent their children to private schools. You can find the results of that investigation by clicking here.