Get Geographic Exception Hawaii

Submitting an application Fill out the GE Application form, and submit to the home school (for new students) or current school for students who are already enrolled. (The home school serves the geographic area of the child's residence.)

The Hawai`i State Department of Education is a large statewide school district comprised of 257 schools that are divided into seven smaller districts across the Hawaiian islands.

Parents may request a geographic exception for any number of reasons: a change in the child's physical residence, a different school placement for a sibling, or parental employment at another school.

The Hawaii Department of Education recognizes the importance that consistent school attendance can have on a child's education. Any student with 15 or more absences is considered “Chronically Absent”.

There is one public school district in Hawaii, known as the Hawaii school district or the Hawaii Department of Education, which serves 184,760 students. That represents 0.7 percent of all students attending top enrollment districts in the United States.

Hawaii is the only state to have a single school district and no local school boards — a holdover from the plantation-era that places many major decisions about education in the hands of a state board made up of volunteers.

While most states have a network of school districts for their residents, Hawaii is the only one to have a single district, the Hawaii Department of Education, for its 181,000 students and 348 schools.

States with the most public schools, 2020-21 California 10,328. Texas 9,002. New York 4,807. Illinois 4,384. Florida 4,219. Ohio 3,531. Michigan 3,526. Pennsylvania 2,947.