A new conflict flared last night between the Board of Education and the Charter School Administrative Office over whether the board should have control of how much money the office receives from funding given to charter schools by the state Legislature.

Over objections from acting charter schools executive director Maunalei Love, the board approved proposing legislation that would allow the BOE to set the level of funding for the office at "up to" 2 percent of the total charter school allocation for salaries and expenses. The office now gets 2 percent.

But board member Garrett Toguchi, who offered the proposed legislation, said changing the law slightly "strengthens our ability to hold the charter school office accountable."

This new disagreement comes on the heels of months of controversy after the September firing of charter school executive director Jim Shon for allegedly failing to follow board instructions by looking for more independence for the state's charters.

Charter schools have accused the board of treating them as "stepchildren," saying there has been a failure to fund them adequately, enact guidelines and rules for proper oversight, and give them the flexibility and support they need as education laboratories.

Board members, on the other hand, have argued that they are held accountable for the fiscal management of all public education and need to scrutinize funding and operations.

At the board's bimonthly meeting last night at Kapolei Middle School, Toguchi also maintained that cutting funding to the administrative arm of the charter schools would leave more funding available for the schools themselves. And he took issue with a recent expense tally the office submitted to the board for the past year, saying it appears that too much money is staying with administrators instead of going to the schools.

Board member Breene Harimoto disagreed with Toguchi's budget analysis. He called the proposed legislation micromanagement, saying it would be "counter to the independence of the charter school office and the charter schools."

"As much as I'd like to oversee them, to micromanage the charter school administrative office as to how they spend that money is not our role," said Harimoto. "The charter schools should be doing that oversight. And I think Maunalei Love would rather see the charters oversee their own money."

Though she was one of eight board members who voted for the proposed legislation, Mary Cochran said she didn't expect the board "would be so mean as to say, 'Maunalei, you're only going to get 1 percent.' "

Love told the board she could not agree to what the board was proposing, saying she had not been apprised of it, and that there needed to be discussions first.

"I feel there needs to be more trust in the office and what we're doing," she said. "Whoever is running it needs to feel there is trust and that we're managing it accountably."

Love earlier had proposed an independent audit of the office, but the board has instructed its newly hired internal auditor to undertake its own audit.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.