Hawaii

Hawaii (Hawaiian: Hawaiʻi) became the 50th state of the United States on August 21, 1959. It is situated in the North Pacific Ocean, 2,300 miles (3,700 km) from the mainland, at 21°18′41″N, 157°47′47″W. In the 19th Century, Hawaii was also known as the Sandwich Islands.

In dialects of American English, "Hawaii" is pronounced at least three different ways: (IPA pronunciation: [hə.ˈwaɪ.ji], [hə.ˈwaɪ.i], [hə.ˈwaɪ.ʔi]). In the Hawaiian language, there is also some variation possible, but the most general pronunciation is [hə.ˈvəi.ʔi] or [hə.ˈwəi.ʔi]. This last Hawaiian pronunciation is often used by native-English-speaking Hawaiʻi residents, as well.

Archaeologic evidence points to earliest habitation in the 11th Century AD, probably by Polynesian settlers from the Marquesas, Raiatea and Bora Bora. The first recorded European contact with the islands was in 1778 by British explorer James Cook. However, substantial evidence (Stokes 1932 for example) exists of earlier Spanish visits to Hawaiʻi. Hawaii was an independent kingdom from 1810 until 1893, when the monarchy was overthrown. It was an independent republic from 1894 until 1898. It became a U.S. territory in 1898 and has been a state since 1959.

Geography

Main article: Hawaiian Islands

Location, topography, and geology

An archipelago in the mid-Pacific and, thus, commonly included in Oceania, Hawaiʻi is the southernmost state of the United States; it would be the westernmost, if not for Alaska. It is one of only two states (Alaska is the other) that are outside the contiguous United States, and do not share a border with another U.S. state. Hawaiʻi is the only state that (1) is without territory on the mainland of any continent; (2) is completely surrounded by water; and (3) continues to grow in area because of active extrusive lava flows, most notably from Kilauea (Kīlauea).

Except for Easter Island, Hawaiʻi is farther away from land than any other landmass on Earth. Hawaiʻi's tallest mountain, Mauna Kea stands over 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) and is taller than Mount Everest if followed to its base at the floor of the Pacific Ocean.

The Hawaiian Archipelago comprises eight islands and atolls extending across a distance of 1,500 miles (2,400 km). Of these, eight high islands are considered the "main islands" and are located at the southeastern end of the archipelago. These islands are, in order from the northwest to southeast, Niihau (Niʻihau), Kauai (Kauaʻi), Oahu (Oʻahu), Molokai (Molokaʻi), Lanai (Lānaʻi), Kahoolawe (Kahoʻolawe), Maui (Māui), and Hawaii (Hawaiʻi). The latter is by far the largest, and is very often called the "Big Island" or "Big Isle". The use of that alternative name is often motivated by a desire to avoid ambiguity with "Hawaiʻi" meaning the entire state (all of the islands), as opposed to only that one island.

All of the Hawaiian Islands were formed by volcanoes arising from the sea floor from a magma source described in geological theory as a hotspot. The theory maintains that as the tectonic plate beneath much of the Pacific Ocean moves in a northwesterly direction, the hot spot remains stationary, slowly creating new volcanoes. This explains why only volcanoes on the southern half of the Big Island are presently active.

The last volcanic eruption outside the Big Island happened at Haleakala (Haleakalā) on Maui in the late 18th century (though recent research suggests that Haleakalā's most recent eruptive activity could be hundreds of years older^[2]. The newest volcano to form is Loihi Seamount (Lōʻihi), deep below the waters off the southern coast of the Big Island.

The volcanic activity and subsequent erosion created impressive geological features. The Big Island is notable as the world's fifth highest island. If the height of the island is measured from its base, deep in the ocean, to its snow-clad peak on Mauna Kea, it can be considered one of the tallest mountains on the Earth.

Because of the islands' volcanic formation, native life before human activity is said to have arrived by the "3 'W's": wind, waves, and wings. The isolation of the Hawaiian Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and the wide range of environments to be found on high islands located in and near the tropic, has resulted in a vast array of endemic flora and fauna. Hawaiʻi has more endangered species per square mile than anywhere else.

Niihau	Kauai	Oahu	Maui
Molokai	Lanai	Kahoolawe	Hawaii

Areas under the control and protection of the National Park Service include:

• Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail on the Big Island
• Haleakala National Park in Kula
• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island
• Kalaupapa National Historical Park in Kalaupapa
• Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park in Kailua-Kona
• Puuhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park in Honaunau (Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau)
• Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site in Kawaihae (Puʻukoholā Heiau)
• USS Arizona Memorial at Honolulu

Climate

The climate of Hawaiʻi is typical for a tropical area, and is regarded as more subtropical than the latitude would suggest, because of the moderating effect of the surrounding ocean. Temperatures and humidity tend to be less extreme, with summer high temperatures seldom reaching above the upper 80s °F, (27 °C) and winter temperatures (at low elevation) seldom dipping below the mid-60s (16 °C). Snow, although not usually associated with tropics, falls at high elevations on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island in some winter months. Snow only rarely falls on Maui's Haleakala. Mount Waialeale (Waiʻaleʻale), on the island of Kauai, is notable for rainfall, as it has the second highest average annual rainfall on Earth, about 460 inches (38 ft. 4 in., or 11.7 m).

Local climates vary considerably on each island, grossly divisible into windward (Koʻolau) and leeward (Kona) areas based upon location relative to the higher mountains. Windward sides face the Northeast Trades and receive much more rainfall; leeward sides are drier, with less rain and less cloud cover. This fact is utilized by the tourist industry, which concentrates resorts on sunny leeward coasts.

Hurricanes are a rare occurrence in Hawaiʻi, although it is probable that all the islands of Hawaiʻi have been hit by a hurricane in the past. Until the 1950s' advent of satellites, many of the tropical cyclones which hit Hawaiʻi were thought to be Konas, as the Kona and hurricanes seasons overlap. The worst hurricane to hit Hawaiʻi was Hurricane Iniki in 1992, which showed that Hawaiʻi was indeed vulnerable to a direct hit from a hurricane.

Important cities and towns

The movement of the Hawaiian royal family from the island of Hawaiʻi to Maui, and subsequently to Oʻahu, explains why certain population centers exist where they do today. The largest city, Honolulu, was the one chosen by King Kamehameha III as the capital of his kingdom because of the natural harbor there, the present-day Honolulu Harbor.

The largest city is the capital, Honolulu, located along the southeast coast of the island of Oʻahu. Other populous cities include Hilo, Kaneohe (Kāneʻohe), Kailua, Pearl City, Waipahu, Kahului, Kailua-Kona, Kihei (Kīhei), and Lihue (Līhuʻe).

Notable features

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument was proclaimed by President George W. Bush on June 15, 2006, under the 1906 Antiquities Act. The monument covers roughly 140,000 square miles (360,000 km²) of reefs, atolls and shallow and deep sea (out to 50 miles offshore) in the Pacific Ocean — larger than all of America's National Parks combined.^[3]

History

Main article: History of Hawaii

Hawaiian antiquity

Main articles: Ancient Hawaii, Hawaiian mythology, and Polynesian mythology

Anthropologists believe that Polynesians from the Marquesas and possibly the Society Islands first populated the Hawaiian Islands at some time between 300 and 1000 AD. There is a great deal of dispute regarding these dates.

Archaeologists and historians also differ as to whether there were one or two waves of colonization. It is believed by some authors that there had been an early settlement from the Marquesas, and a later wave of immigrants from Tahiti, circa 1300, who were said to have introduced a new line of high chiefs and the practice of human sacrifice. This later immigration is detailed in folk tales about Paao (Pāʻao). However, other authors have argued that there is no archaeological or linguistic evidence whatsoever for a later influx of Tahitian settlers and that Paʻao must be regarded as a myth. Since there are still many supporters of the Paʻao narrative, this topic is still hotly disputed.

Leaving aside the question of Paʻao, historians agree that the history of the islands was marked by a slow but steady growth in population and the size of chiefdoms, which grew to encompass whole islands. Local chiefs, called alii (aliʻi), ruled their settlements and fought to extend their sway and defend their communities from predatory rivals. This was conducted in a system of alii of various ranks somewhat similar to Feudalism. Warfare was endemic.

European contact

The 1778 arrival of British explorer Captain James Cook is usually taken to be the "discovery" of the Hawaiian islands by European explorers. Cook plotted and published the geographical coordinates of the Hawaiian Islands, so that they could be found again. Cook named his discovery the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his sponsors, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, and reported the native name as Owyhee. This is also the reason for the existence of the British Overseas Territory of the South Sandwich Islands near Argentina, as opposed to the Hawaiian ones.

Some writers have claimed that there were European visitors before Cook, citing Hawaiian legends and references in some Spanish chronicles in support of their argument. While it is possible that there were earlier visitors, this is not accepted as fact by most historians.^{[citation needed]}

Cook visited the Hawaiian islands twice. The second visit ended badly for him, when he was killed on the sands of Kealakekua Bay in 1779. He had attempted to abduct a Hawaiian chief and hold him as ransom for return of a ship's boat that was stolen by a different mischievous minor chief; the chief's supporters fought back.

After Cook's visit and the publication of several books relating his voyages, the Hawaiian islands received many European visitors: explorers, traders, and eventually whalers who found the islands a convenient harbor and source of fresh food. Early British influence can still be seen from the design of the local Flag of Hawaii which has the British Union Jack in the corner. Visitors introduced disease to the formerly isolated islands and the Hawaiian population plunged precipitously. American missionaries arrived in 1820 and eventually converted the chiefs and the remaining population to Protestant Christianity.

Hawaiian kingdom

Main article: Kingdom of Hawaii

After a series of battles that ended in 1795 and peaceful cession of the island of Kauai in 1810, the Hawaiian Islands were united for the first time under a single ruler who would become known as King Kamehameha the Great. He established the House of Kamehameha, a dynasty that ruled over the kingdom until 1872.

The death of the bachelor King Kamehameha V—who did not name an heir—resulted in the popular election of King Lunalilo over Kalakaua. After Lunalilo's death, in a hotly contested and allegedly fraudulent election by the legislature in 1874 between Kalakaua and Emma (which led to riots and the landing of U.S. and British troops to keep the peace), governance was passed on to the House of Kalakaua.

In 1887, citing maladministration under the influence of Walter Murray Gibson, a group of primarily American and European businessmen, including kingdom subjects and members of the Hawaiian government forced King Kalakaua to sign the derisively nicknamed "Bayonet Constitution" which stripped the king of administrative authority, eliminated voting rights for Asians and set minimum income and property requirements for American, European and native Hawaiian voters, essentially limiting the electorate to wealthy elite Americans, Europeans and native Hawaiians. King Kalakaua reigned until his death in 1891. His sister, Liliuokalani, succeeded him to the throne and ruled until her overthrow in 1893.

Kamehameha	Kamehameha II	Kamehameha III	Kamehameha IV
Kamehameha V	Lunalilo	Kalakaua	Liliʻuokalani

Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy

Main article: Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy

In 1893, Liliʻuokalani threatened to abrogate the "Bayonet Constitution" and draft a new constitution that would restore power to the monarchy. Supporters of the Reform Party (primarily of American and European ancestry, but including some native Hawaiians) organized in response to this and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. American troops aboard the USS Boston were landed in Honolulu under strict orders of neutrality, to protect the "lives and property of American citizens, and to assist in preserving public order",^[4] while a 13 member council of businessmen, attorneys and politicians organized the Honolulu Rifles to depose Queen Liliʻuokalani.

The monarchy ended in January 1893, and there was much controversy in the following years as the queen tried to regain her throne. After an unsuccessful attempt at armed rebellion in 1895, a weapons cache was found on the palace grounds and Queen Liliʻuokalani was placed under arrest, tried by a military tribunal of the Republic of Hawaiʻi, convicted of misprision of treason and then imprisoned in her own home. The Queen officially abdicated in 1896. ^[6] In 1993, a joint Apology Resolution regarding the overthrow was passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton.^[7]

Republic of Hawaii

Main article: Republic of Hawaii

The Republic of Hawaii was the formal name of Hawaiʻi from 1894 to 1898 when it was run as a republic. The republic period occurred between the administration of the Provisional Government of Hawaii which ended on July 4, 1894 and the adoption of the Newlands Resolution in Congress in which the Republic was annexed to the United States and became the Territory of Hawaiʻi on July 7, 1898.

Hawaiian territory

Main article: Territory of Hawaii

When William McKinley won the presidential election in November of 1896, the question of Hawaii's annexation to the U.S. was again opened. The previous president, Grover Cleveland, was a friend of Queen Liliuokalani. He had remained opposed to annexation until the end of his term, but McKinley was open to persuasion by U.S. expansionists and by annexationists from Hawaii. He agreed to meet with a committee of annexationists from Hawaii, Lorrin Thurston, Francis Hatch and William Kinney. After negotiations, in June of 1897, McKinley agreed to a treaty of annexation with these representatives of the Republic of Hawaii.^[8] The president then submitted the treaty to the U.S. Senate for approval.

Despite some opposition in the islands, the Newlands Resolution was passed by the House June 15, 1898, by a vote of 209 to 91, and by the Senate on July 6, 1898, by a vote of 42 to 21, formally annexing Hawaii as a U.S. territory. Although its legality was questioned by some at the time because it was a resolution, not a treaty, both houses of Congress carried the measure with two-thirds majorities, whereas a treaty would have only required two-thirds of the Senate vote (Article II, Sec. 2, U.S. Constitution).

The power of the plantation owners was finally broken by activist descendants of original immigrant laborers. Because they were born in a U.S. territory, they were legal U.S. citizens. Expecting to gain full voting rights, they actively campaigned for statehood for the Hawaiian Islands.

In 1900, Hawaii was granted self-governance and retained Iolani Palace as the territorial capitol building. Though several attempts were made to achieve statehood, Hawaii remained a territory for sixty years. Plantation owners, such as the Big Five, found territorial status convenient, enabling them to continue importing cheap foreign labor; such immigration was prohibited in various states of the U.S.

Hawaiian statehood

In March 1959, both houses of Congress passed the Admission Act and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law. (The act excluded Palmyra Atoll, part of the Kingdom and Territory of Hawaii, from the new state.) On June 27 of that year, a referendum was held asking residents of Hawaii to vote on accepting the statehood bill. Hawaii voted 17 to 1 to accept. On August 21, church bells throughout Honolulu were rung upon the proclamation that Hawaii was the 50th state of the Union.

After statehood, Hawaii quickly became a modern state with a construction boom and rapidly growing economy. The Hawaii Republican Party, which was strongly supported by the plantation owners, was voted out of office. In its place, the Democratic Party of Hawaii dominated state politics for forty years.

In recent decades, the state government has implemented programs to promote Hawaiian culture. The Hawaii State Constitutional Convention of 1978 incorporated as state constitutional law specific programs such as the creation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to promote the indigenous Hawaiian language and culture.

Controversy has erupted within the last decade over the extent of the Hawaiian cultural programs creating a new political dialogue within the state. Pitting the strong emotions of both integrationists and separatists, high rhetoric has been employed by both groups including the use of propaganda materials of dubious provenance. A much criticized example includes the Hui Aloha Aina (Hui Aloha ʻĀina) and Hui Kalaiaina (Hui Kālaiʻāina) petitions allegedly rediscovered in 1998. According to their proponents, the petitions are contemporaneous to the annexation of Hawaii with one petition purportedly containing 22,000 signatures in opposition to the annexation while a second petition purportedly contains 17,000 signatures in favor of reinstating the monarchy. The validity of the petitions has been criticized by Lorrin Thurston in an analysis which indicates significant fraud.

Demographics

As of 2005, Hawaii has an estimated population of 1,275,194, which is an increase of 13,070, or 1.0%, from the prior year and an increase of 63,657, or 5.3%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 48,111 people (that is 96,028 births minus 47,917 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 16,956 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 30,068 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 13,112 people. The center of population of Hawaii is located directly between the two islands of Oahu and Molokai [1].

Hawaii has a de facto population of over 1.3 million due to military presence and tourists. Oahu, which is aptly nicknamed "The Gathering Place", is the most populous island (and the one with the highest population density), with a resident population of just under one million in 597 square miles, about 1,650 people per square mile (for comparison, New Jersey, which has 8,717,925 people in 7,417 square miles is the most-densely populated state with 1,134 people per square mile.^[9]) Hawaii's 1,275,194 people, spread over 6,423 square miles (including many unpopulated islands) results in an average population density of 188.6 persons per square mile,^[10] which makes Hawaii less densely populated than states like Ohio and Illinois.^[11]

Hawaii may be an especially healthy place to live. People born in Hawaii in the year 2000 can expect to live 79.8 years (77.1 years if male, 82.5 if female), longer than the residents of any other state.^[12]

Ethnicities

Ethnically, Hawaii is one of only four states in which non-Hispanic whites do not form a majority, and has the largest percentage of Asian Americans. Hawaii was the first majority-minority state in the United States, having been one since the early 20th century. Hawaii also has the largest percentage of persons of mixed race, who constitute some 20% of the total population.

The third group of foreigners to arrive upon Hawaii's shores, after the Polynesians and Europeans, were the Chinese. Chinese employees serving on Western trading ships disembarked and settled starting in 1789. In 1820 the first American missionaries arrived in Hawaii to preach Christianity and teach the Hawaiians what the missionaries considered "civilized" ways. A large proportion of Hawaii's population has become a people of Asian ancestry (especially Chinese, Japanese and Filipino) many of whom are descendants from those waves of early foreign immigrants brought to the islands in the nineteenth century, beginning in the 1850's, to work on the sugar plantations. The first 153 Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii on June 19, 1868. They were not "legally" approved by the Japanese government established after the Meiji Restoration because the contract was between a broker and the Tokugawa shogunate, by then terminated. The first Japanese government-approved immigrants arrived in Hawaii on February 9, 1885 after Kalakaua's petition to Emperor Meiji when Kalakaua visited Japan in 1881.

Religion

• Christian = 63%
  • Protestant = 39%
    • Congregational/United Church of Christ= 3%
    • Baptist = 2%
    • Methodist = 2%
  • Roman Catholic = 24%
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints = 5%
• Agnostic/non-religious = 18%
• Buddhist = 9%
• Other (e.g. Shinto, Jehovah's Witnesses, Tao, pagan) = 5%

Languages

Main article: Hawaiian language

The State of Hawaii has two official languages recognized in its constitution adopted at the 1978 constitutional convention: English and Hawaiian. Article XV, Section 4, specifies that "Hawaiian shall be required for public acts and transactions only as provided by law" [italic added]. Hawaiian Creole English (locally referred to as 'Pidgin') is the first language of many born-and-raised residents, and is a second language for many other residents. After English, the second- and third-most spoken individual languages are Tagalog and Japanese, respectively. Significant European immigrants and descendants also speak their native languages; the most popular are Spanish, German, and French.

As of the 2000 U.S. Census, 73.44% of Hawaii residents age 5 and older speak only English at home. Tagalog speakers make up 5.37%, followed by Japanese at 4.96%, Ilokano at 4.05%, Chinese at 1.92%, Hawaiian at 1.68%, Spanish at 1.66%, Korean at 1.61%, and Samoan at 1.01% [2].

Origin of Hawaiian

Hawaiian is a member of the Polynesian branch of the Austronesian family. It began to develop around 1000 A.D., when foreign Marquesans or Tahitians of that era colonized Hawaii. Those originally foreign Polynesians remained in the islands, thereby becoming the Hawaiian people. Consequently, their originally foreign language developed into the Hawaiian language.

Before the arrival of Captain James Cook, the Hawaiian language was never written. The present written form of Hawaiian was developed mainly by American Protestant missionaries during 1820–1826. They assigned letters from the Latin alphabet that corresponded to the Hawaiian sounds.

Hawaiian distinguishes between long and short vowels. In writing, vowel length can be indicated with a macron (kahakō). Hawaiian also uses the glottal stop as a consonant. In writing, it can be indicated with the apostrophe, or with the opening single quote (ʻokina).

Revival of Hawaiian

As a result of the constitutional provision, interest in the Hawaiian language was revived in the late 20th century. Public and independent schools throughout the state began teaching Hawaiian language standards as part of the regular curricula, beginning with preschool. With the help of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, also created by the 1978 constitutional convention, specially designated Hawaiian language immersion schools were established where students would be taught in all subjects using Hawaiian. Also, the University of Hawaii System developed the only Hawaiian language graduate studies program in the world. Municipal codes were altered in favor of Hawaiian place and street names for new civic developments.

Note on Hawaiian language and ʻokina usage

In Hawaiian-language newspapers published from 1834–1948, the spelling "Hawaii" was used. However, in texts written mainly for Hawaiian-language pedagogy, especially since 1950, the modern Hawaiian-language spelling used is Hawaiʻi, with an apostrophe or other similar character, such as an opening single quote, written between the final two vowels. The character represents a consonant, the glottal stop, in the Hawaiian language. Although not used and not needed by native speakers of Hawaiian for over 100 years, its use is appropriate in modern written Hawaiian. Therefore, when actual Hawaiian-language forms are cited in this article, they will appear in italic, and will mark the glottal stop, and/or vowel length, if they are a part of the particular word. These citations will be given within parentheses, immediately following the English-language spellings of the particular words, but only at the initial use of the words in the article. English-language spellings of Hawaiian words do not use the modern Hawaiian marks for the glottal stop or vowel length. In that respect, English spellings of Hawaiian words are in harmony with the spellings familiar to Hawaiians before the 1957 Pukui and Elbert dictionary introduced the written kahakō and ʻokina.

"Pidgin"

Many residents speak Hawaiian Creole English (HCE), often called "pidgin". During the 19th century, there was a great increase in immigration from foreign countries (mainly Portugal, the Portuguese Azores, Spain, and China), and a pidgin English developed. By the early 20th century, a creole English developed. A creole language is created when pidgin speakers have children who acquire the pidgin as their own native language.

One trait of the HCE is that it retains some vocabulary and syntax from Hawaiian. HCE speakers can use some Hawaiian words without those words being considered archaic. Most placenames are retained from Hawaiian, as are some names for plants or animals. For example, tuna fish are often called "ahi" (ʻahi). Also, some Hawaiian words are loanwords in the mainstream American English lexicon. HCE speakers have modified the meanings of certain English words. For example, the terms "auntie" and "uncle" can be used to refer to any adult who is a friend, or a friend to the family. It is also used as a sign of respect for elders. Throughout the surfing boom in Hawaii, HCE has influenced surfing slang. Some HCE expressions, such as brah and da kine, have found their way to other places.

HCE syntax often follows that of Hawaiian. Certain words can be dropped if their meaning is understood. For example, instead of saying "It is hot today, isn't it?", an HCE speaker is likely to say simply "Hot, yea?"

Debates

A somewhat divisive political issue that has arisen since The Constitution of the State of Hawaii added Hawaiian as a second official state language is the exact spelling of the state's name. As prescribed in the Admission of Hawaii Act that granted Hawaiian statehood, the federal government recognizes "Hawaii" to be the official state name.

Official government publications, as well as department and office titles, use the traditional Hawaiian spelling, that is, with no symbols for glottal stops or vowel length. In contrast, some private entities, including a local newspaper, are using such symbols.

The title of the state constitution is "The Constitution of the State of Hawaii". In Article XV therein, Section 1 uses "The State of Hawaii", Section 2 "the island of Oahu", Section 3 "The Hawaiian flag", and Section 5 specifies the state motto as "Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono". Note that English spellings, not Hawaiian spellings, are used in all of those cases. No okinas nor kahakos are used.

The nuances in the Hawaiian language debate are often not obvious or well-appreciated outside Hawaii. The issue has often been a source of friction in situations where correct naming conventions are mandated, as people frequently disagree over which spelling is correct or incorrect, and where it is correctly or incorrectly applied.

See also: Hawaiian language#Orthography (writing system)

Education

Main article: Hawaii State Department of Education

Hawaii is currently the only state in the union with a unified school system statewide. Policy decisions are made by the fourteen-member state Board of Education, with thirteen members elected for four-year terms and one non-voting student member. The Board of Education sets statewide educational policy and hires the state superintendent o