Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Ka ʻOihana Hoʻonaʻauao o ke Aupuni Hawaiʻi

School Impact Fees and Fair Share Balances

The Hawaiʻi State Legislature via Act 245 authorized the Board of Education to approve School Impact Districts, in which impact fees may be collected. These districts must be areas of high growth that will require new schools, or the expansion of existing schools, to accommodate the increase in new families and school enrollments. Commercial projects, industrial projects, senior housing projects, replacement homes or projects to enlarge existing homes are exempt. 

School Impact Fees were legislatively transferred from the Department to the School Facilities Authority.

The history of private donations for public school facilities in Hawaiʻi goes back to the 1831 donation of land by the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to the Department’s oldest school: Lahainaluna High School. School land and buildings were often provided by agricultural plantations for their worker communities. After statehood, when developers sought to get urban classifications from the state and county governments, the land-approving agencies imposed school fair-share conditions. Developers were required to meet with the Department and agree to provide land and/or funding to offset the student enrollment impacts of their residential development. 

HRS 302A-1601 established the impact fee system to replace fair share in 2007 with a statutorily defined system of compensation and expenditure.

Impact Fee and Fair Share Balances

Impact Fee Balances are maintained by the School Facilities Authority.

Contact Information

Facilities Development
Phone: 808-784-5080
Email: [email protected]