For as long as anyone remembers, no childcare center on Kaua驶i has had a single opening for an infant or toddler. Not one.

On this tropical island lush with vegetation, the childcare landscape is desolate. Kaua驶i is the only major Hawaiian island that has gone without center-based infant and toddler care for most of the past 15 years if not more 鈥� the data just doesn鈥檛 go back any further. 

There are spots on the island鈥檚 military base, but those are reserved for military families. There have historically been about 22 licensed home-based childcare centers that could also take infants and toddlers, but they鈥檙e limited to only two children under 18 months; most choose to only have one infant or none at all. That amounts to about 10 to 14 seats for the 700 babies who are born on the island every year. And hiring a nanny on Kaua鈥檌 is a prohibitive cost for many: The going rate is between $35 and $40 an hour. 

On the mainland, if parents are in a childcare desert, they often get around it by driving to the next nearest town or moving neighborhoods to be near family. On Kaua驶i, there鈥檚 nowhere to go without leaving the tiny island behind. So parents have made it work because they had to. Families living intergenerationally relied on each other to help with the care. Grandmas and aunties stepped in to help. Moms took their kids to work with them or they found a job that they could do from home to give them more flexibility. In many cases, moms left the labor force altogether. 

This has gone on so long that it has become an accepted way of life. 

Across Hawai鈥檌, of parents report leaving their jobs due to childcare challenges, according to a 2025 survey by the Chamber of Commerce Hawai鈥檌. On Kaua驶i, 鈥渋t is a very stressful situation, and in most cases it’s going to be the mother that has to to quit her job and stay at home and it puts on an additional burden to the family financially,鈥� said Carol Wear, the executive director of PATCH, Hawai鈥檌鈥檚 childcare resource and referral agency.

The situation came to a head during the pandemic, which decimated the scant childcare options on Kaua鈥檌. Five home-based childcare centers had shuttered by 2023. Families鈥� finances got tighter after the island鈥檚 top industry, tourism, much of 2020. An already unwieldy housing affordability problem . Fewer families could afford to have one parent home not working to care for their child. 

Faced with a need that was growing more desperate, the island鈥檚 first known infant and toddler spots opened up by 2024. The Kaua驶i Montessori Project, a preschool in L墨hu驶e, the county seat, opened 12 infant and toddler spots thanks to some grant funding that came through during the pandemic. Then an Early Head Start center serving the lowest-income children 鈥� 鈥� opened in 2025 with eight infant and toddler spots. Coming soon is a third center, a renovated grocery store space, that the county decided to turn solely into an infant-toddler center in response to the need. It will open with 32 seats for kids ages 6 weeks to 3 years old early next year. 

That brings the count of infant-toddler spots to about 30 currently 鈥� still only enough for about 4 percent of the island鈥檚 infants. For the Head Start center, the kids on that waitlist alone could fill three more centers, said Novelyn Hinazumi, the director of Kaua驶i programs at Child & Family Service, the nonprofit that operates Head Start programs on the island. 

鈥淭his shortage has placed enormous strain on families, contributed to workforce loss and increased community awareness of the need for systemic change,鈥� said Natasha Perry, the county鈥檚 early childhood coordinator. 

For moms, it has put into question whether their families can continue to live on Kaua驶i at all. 

Aakara Wiegand, a single mom of a 2-year-old who has lived in Hawai鈥檌 for 15 years, has to take her daughter with her to work at a rental car company. With her other business running wellness retreats, she can only do about half as many events because she can barely manage it with her toddler. 

The nanny rates are unaffordable, Wiegand said. And even finding a nanny at the last minute is difficult. She had one nanny lined up for an upcoming colonoscopy, but the nanny had to travel, so Wiegand was forced to cancel her appointment. 

It has put severe strain on her life, she said: 鈥淚 have basically stopped doing things.鈥� 

Even more complicated is the fact that her toddler is receiving early intervention services for her speech and social emotional development. The very few options on the island don鈥檛 often cater to children who need additional support, Wiegand said. Last year, she was able to get her daughter a spot at a daycare, but she only lasted there four days. 鈥淪he just couldn’t emotionally fit in that group, but it was the only option available. So that was frustrating at that time,鈥� Wiegand said.

With no family or support on the island, Wiegand is starting to research a move to North Carolina in the next year. Becoming a parent has changed her experience on Kaua鈥檌.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just not a very sustainable environment anymore,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely taken a toll on me.鈥�

Part of how Kaua驶i found itself with such a severe infant and toddler care shortage is a familiar story. In Kaua驶i, like much of the country, infant and toddler spots because no one makes money from them. Per Hawai鈥檌鈥檚 licensing rules, there needs to be one teacher for every four infants in each infant-toddler classroom, which makes staffing expensive. 

But on this island, there鈥檚 also a space problem. 

Hawai鈥檌鈥檚 licensing guidelines require of play or instructional space per child as well as 75 square feet of outdoor space per child, not unlike what most other states require. In most places that鈥檚 not a big constraint, but on an island 33 miles wide with a massive housing shortage, real estate is tight. 

Mandie Gibson, the principal of the Koloa Early School, a preschool on the south part of the island about 10 miles west of L墨hu驶e, said she鈥檚 been trying to add an additional building to run an infant-toddler center for seven or eight years, but on the island, the process is lengthy. Even if it does come together soon, which she expects it may, construction is projected to take six to 10 months. Adjusted for Kaua驶i time 鈥� everything takes longer here, she said 鈥� it鈥檒l likely be closer to a year and a half.

Gibson first sought to add infant and toddler spots as a workforce retention tool for her own staff. But the addition didn鈥檛 come together in time; she lost one full-time teacher last year when his wife had a baby and he had to move into a part-time position elsewhere. 

She鈥檚 seen families on both ends of the spectrum: those with the means to hire nannies to care for their younger children and those who had to move away to find care. 

鈥淗ere, it’s very transient. It’s three to five years for a lot of people. The island spits you up or embraces you,鈥� Gibson said. 

Kaua驶i鈥檚 retention problem also extends to its teachers. If the island wants to continue to add more infant-toddler centers, it鈥檚 going to have to figure out how to recruit and train staff. Under Hawai鈥檌 regulations, infant and toddler teachers depending on their education level need one to two years of experience with that age group to qualify. How do you get experience on an island that has never really had spots to begin with?

Toni Fujimoto, the early childhood education program coordinator at Kaua驶i Community College, has been working on that side of the problem for years, including helping shape recommendations to the state to modernize the childcare licensing requirement. One of her goals is to set up apprenticeship programs for her students in partnership with the island鈥檚 centers. Some students can currently get experience at home-based centers or at centers like Gibson鈥檚, which takes kids as young as 2 and technically counts as infant-toddler experience. But the options are severely limited. 

And it鈥檚 already hard to recruit students to early childhood because the positions are among the lowest paid jobs in the country; some students just choose to work in tourism or other industries instead of pursuing the education needed to work in childcare. Last semester, Fujimoto had only four graduates from the associate鈥檚 degree program. She is now recruiting as early as middle school, sussing out any students who may have interest. 

One of Fujimoto鈥檚 recent graduates, Alysha Palacio, grew up on Kaua驶i with her grandparents caring for her. But she did not have that option when she became pregnant her senior year in high school in 2021. Her fiance is a plumber and couldn鈥檛 bring their daughter with him to work. Her mother is a store manager who works from sun up to sundown with no days off. Her father is a waiter who often works double shifts. Her grandparents passed away. Already, Palacio鈥檚 sister-in-law had to leave the island because of lack of childcare.

Palacio chose to study early childhood education 鈥� hoping, at first, that it would also prepare her for being a mom 鈥� and kept her daughter with her while she did classes on Zoom or went to campus. It took her four years to complete her associate degree. She graduated in May hoping to go work at a preschool but is still waiting to hear back about a job.

Out in the community, she sees the struggle reflected in other moms. At a restaurant recently, she noticed her server鈥檚 young children sitting alone at a back table. 

鈥淎nother waitress comes in and she has her kids, and she puts her kids on this back table, and it clicked in my head that they’re bringing their kids here because they have nobody else to watch them, so their kids are literally going to work with them,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen I see that in public I feel really bad.鈥�

At Kaua驶i Montessori, director Marci Whitman has had to weigh whose pocketbook she would hurt more. She recently lost two teachers because they couldn鈥檛 afford housing on the island; another two nearly became homeless. But to pay them, she had to raise an already high tuition. 

She chose the teachers, who are paid between $20 and $27 an hour. 

Over the past several years, Kaua驶i鈥檚 efforts to add more infant spots have butted up against a growing affordability crisis that is among the most severe in the nation. As much as some parents may want to put their youngest in childcare, few can actually afford it.

Tuition for infant spots at Kaua鈥檌 Montessori is $2,400 a month. On an island where the median household income is about $83,000, that price would swallow about a third of it. So though Whitman may have 12 spots for infants, only three are taken due to the high cost.

Statewide, the average cost of full-time, center-based infant care in Hawai鈥檌 is per year, according to an analysis by Child Care Aware. That鈥檚 second only to Massachusetts among the 47 states for which there is data. 

Businesses on Kaua驶i are as they can. Tamara Lawrence, a mom of three young kids, opened a play space in 2023 to try to offer some respite for stay-at-home parents or those working from home with their kids. But the business struggled to make a profit 鈥� people said the play space was too expensive. 

They recently moved into a new space on the main street in L墨hu驶e and established a nonprofit arm that will help them take in some grant funding to lower costs. After their grand opening next month, they鈥檒l start marketing the Play Hale鈥檚 drop-in childcare option: two hours a day for $25. 

鈥淢y goal is to eventually make it very minimal payment or no payment at all 鈥� that’s what our community wants and needs,鈥� Lawrence said. 

The community also needs something really basic: childcare . Over and over again, the question of came up in more than a dozen conversations The 19th had with parents, providers and childcare experts on Kaua驶i. In a place where, for decades, people have relied on their family and each other for care, growing to trust more formal childcare options is a barrier in itself (for those who have the luxury of choice). Hawai鈥檌 also seriously in its reporting of incidents of serious injuries or abuse at childcare centers. Though the state is required by federal law to report such cases annually, regardless of whether there are any incidents at all, it hasn鈥檛 . 

Lawrence said that, culturally, trust was a big issue, which is why she always advises her staff to create a connection with every patron that comes through their doors. Even remembering someone鈥檚 name can make someone more likely to return.

Nora Gregg, a stay-at-home mom of a teenage daughter and two boys under the age of 2 said the philosophy among most of the moms she knows on the island is that mom should be home with their baby. Some moms put their kids in nature pods, unlicensed childcare options where kids learn outside, or they gather together to share the caregiving. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 actually how women have mothered for many centuries 鈥� that鈥檚 the village,鈥� she said.

鈥淧arents here, they don鈥檛 just give your kids to strangers,鈥� said Gregg, who has lived in Kaua鈥檌 for three years. 鈥淲hen I think back to how I put my daughter on the East Coast in daycare that I didn’t know the person, isn’t that weird?鈥� 

On Kaua驶i and elsewhere in the United States, a country that has now been in , so much of the experience continues to be shaped by what little choice parents even have in the matter. 

Connie, a single mom of a 4-month-old who has lived on Kaua驶i for five years, doesn鈥檛 trust anyone to care for her baby. So she brings her daughter along as she cleans Airbnb鈥檚 across the island. Cleaning is a lucrative job for women here; on any given year, 1.4 million tourists visit an island of 74,000 locals. She can鈥檛 afford to lose the job, which she needs to keep her health insurance. But Connie鈥檚 boss doesn鈥檛 know she brings her daughter to work. The 19th is only using her first name to protect her identity. 

鈥淚鈥檇 be lying if I said it was a walk in the park,鈥� Connie said. 鈥淚 could be just about done with the job, and she gets really really upset or fussy, and sometimes there’s nothing I can do to calm her down until we can get in the car and she falls asleep in her car seat. Or I could be just about done with my job, and my boss is like, 鈥極h, hey, can you go here? Can you go there? Can you do all these extra things?鈥� 鈥�

She doesn鈥檛 feel like she has options. She can鈥檛 afford a nanny. But as her daughter gets older, she is going to have to seriously consider asking her family to move to the island with her to help, she said. 

Until then, she sneaks her daughter鈥檚 bouncer and toys with her to work hoping her boss won鈥檛 find out.

鈥淚 have to take the risk every day.鈥�

was originally reported by Chabeli Carrazana of . .

Nearly every child in Hawai驶i lives in a community that lacks adequate licensed childcare, with access rates falling far behind the national average, according to recent reports from the Center for American Progress.聽

Challenges finding affordable childcare have also worsened for some families this year as they face delays with receiving state subsidies reducing the costs of preschool. 

聽measure the percentage of kids in every state who live in childcare deserts 鈥� communities where at least three kids are vying for a single seat in a licensed program. These programs include options like public or private preschools, group childcare homes and Head Start, said Hailey Gibbs, associate director of early childhood policy at the Center for American Progress.聽

In 鈥嬧�婬awai驶i, 96% of kids live in these deserts 鈥� more than double the national average. Of these kids, 86% live in communities with no supply of licensed childcare providers at all, according to the Center for American Progress report.聽

The data highlights the need for greater investments in childcare programs, including more support for staff, Gibbs said.  mean that some programs that are already in high demand may need to cut back on the number of students they serve, she said. 

鈥淧rovider financial viability is essential to standing up a childcare system that can actually meet demand,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou really need to be able to attract educators into the field.鈥澛�

The study does not include unlicensed sources of care, such as grandparents, neighbors and , which allow kids to learn alongside their family members, said Malia Tsuchiya, early childhood policy and advocacy coordinator at Hawai驶i Children Action鈥檚 Network. 

Even taking these options into account, she said, families need more access to early learning programs. The state has aggressively expanded its public preschool programs in recent years, adding more than 1,800 seats in traditional public and charter schools since 2022. But the capacity of private childcare providers has fallen by roughly 950 seats in the same time period, according to a  from the Department of Human Services and Executive Office on Early Learning. 

Hawai驶i鈥檚 workforce of early educators shrank during the pandemic and never recovered, Tsuchiya said, leading some providers to close some classrooms and reduce their enrollment.聽

鈥淲e鈥檙e blessed to have multi-generational families and aunties, uncles, cousins, grandmas that are willing to step in and help supplement childcare,鈥� Tsuchiya said. 鈥淏ut do they have a choice?鈥� 

State Aid On Its Way?

For some families, securing childcare has only become harder to navigate as they face delays with receiving state tuition subsidies. 

Operating under the Department of Human Services, Preschool Open Doors provides tuition subsidies for young children whose families make up to 500% of the federal poverty level. The maximum subsidy ranges from $1,200 to $1,500 a month. 

Typically, the application window opens near the  to give the department time to process families鈥� applications before the payment period begins on July 1. This year, the application opened on , giving the department just over a month before families expected their subsidies to kick in. Parents need to reapply for the subsidy every year. 

The applications opened later than usual because the Department of Human Services needed to update its administrative rules expanding Preschool Open Door鈥檚 age eligibility to 2-year-olds. The department was initially expected to expand the program to 2-year-olds back in January, but it instructed families to  applying at the time to create more time for the rule change. 

As of last week, the program received over 6,100 applications and had processed 1,282. Staff process 10 to 15 applications a day, Joseph Campos II, director of the Hawai驶i Department of Human Services, said in an emailed statement. The department is exploring strategies to reduce the backlog, he said, adding that wait times are longer than usual because of the high number of submissions the department received as soon as applications opened in May.聽

But the delayed release date has left families scrambling for answers. 

Parent Christine Russo said she submitted an application for her twin daughters the morning of May 29, hoping an early submission would secure a quick response time from Preschool Open Doors. But more than a month later, she doesn鈥檛 know if her daughters qualify for the program 鈥� and the subsidy she was receiving through June has stopped.聽

Last year, Russo鈥檚 daughters qualified for Preschool Open Doors, meaning that she paid only $28 a month for their preschool tuition. But the program year ended on June 30, meaning that Russo is now covering the full costs of tuition for July 鈥� over $2,700 for both girls.聽

Russo said she doesn鈥檛 want to pull her daughters out of preschool, since it would mean losing her deposit and two spots that are in high demand. Russo lives in 驶Ewa Beach, a community with a scarce licensed childcare supply, according to the .

Expecting to cover the full costs of preschool this month, Russo is worried what will happen if the tuition payments don鈥檛 kick by August. Earlier this week, she learned her application is being processed, but she鈥檚 still waiting to hear if her daughters qualify for the subsidy.聽

鈥淢y anticipation was if they open this late, they鈥檝e got it under control,鈥� Russo said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not looking good at all.鈥� 

The Department of Human Services will retroactively issue tuition subsidies dating back to the date of children鈥檚 preschool enrollment or families鈥� application, whichever came later, Campos said. Families who applied for July benefits and enrolled their children in preschool will receive subsidies for the full month if their application is approved, he said.聽

Even with the reassurance of tuition backpay, some families and providers are stuck in limbo. 

At Seagull Schools, which offers early learning programs at six O驶ahu sites, some parents have decided to withdraw their children for the month of July because their tuition benefits haven鈥檛 come through, said Chief Executive Officer Megan McCorriston. Other families who are new to the school are holding off enrolling their children until they know they can qualify for the subsidies, she said. 

It鈥檚 a difficult situation for working parents, she said, and it also puts more stress on providers. Seagull Schools will hold seats for families who are waiting to hear back from Preschool Open Doors, she said, but that means some spots remain unfilled for two to three months at a time. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of a wait and see situation,鈥� she said. 

This story was originally published by . Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy, and 鈥淒ata Dive鈥� is supported in part by the Will J. Reid Foundation.

During the school year, M膩noa Heritage Center hosts students of all ages learning about native plants, Hawaiian culture and history. But on a recent summer morning, teachers donned name tags, explored the gardens and diligently took notes as they became students for the day. 

On Thursday, 20 educators gathered for a professional development workshop, spending the morning learning new games they could use to teach their students about native and invasive plants, climate change and natural resources. The workshop was hosted by Trees for Honolulu鈥檚 Future, M膩noa Heritage Center and Hanafuda Hawai驶i, an organization dedicated to teaching a Japanese card game to local communities. 

M膩lama M膩noa, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the heritage of M膩noa Valley, covered the costs of hosting the workshop and providing learning materials to teachers. Teachers received a $100 stipend courtesy of M膩noa Heritage Center. 

The morning started with a lively  鈥� a card game named after the Hawaiian word for tree. The game requires participants to collect the right combination of cards representing the resources they need to grow trees like 驶ulu or kukui. 

Some cards, pulled at random, provided valuable nutrients, like water or soil. Others described worst case scenarios and natural disasters, like wildfires, that could set players back and hinder their trees鈥� growth.聽

鈥淚鈥檓 learning that it鈥檚 hard to grow a tree!鈥� one teacher said with a laugh as she drew a card informing her that she planted a tree too close to a building, leaving it with less sun to grow. 

The game moves quickly and typically takes five to 10 minutes, but it鈥檚 meant to spark deeper conversations among students, said Daniel Dinell, president of Trees for Honolulu鈥檚 Future. For example, he told teachers, students might reflect on how the聽聽is threatening native plants or practice using the Hawaiian vocabulary printed on the cards 鈥� like wai for water or l膩 for sun.聽

Game time continued as participants rotated to another station, where teachers scattered brightly colored Hanafuda cards across the table. The cards included illustrations of both native and invasive plants and animals to teach participants about Hawai驶i鈥檚 ecosystem. For the next 30 minutes, teachers diligently worked to match similar cards, laughing as they accumulated points during the game and marveled at the detailed illustrations. 

Phillippe Fernandez-Brennan, a teacher at H膩lau Ku Mana Public Charter School, said he鈥檚 excited to introduce the games into his classroom. It鈥檚 important for students to see native plants and the Hawaiian language represented in card games 鈥� and it鈥檚 a valuable opportunity to get kids off their phones so they can interact with one another, he said.聽

鈥淭here鈥檚 joy in learning,鈥� he said.

M膩noa Elementary School teacher Danielle Montano said she takes her fourth grade students to M膩noa Heritage Center every year to learn about native plants and invasive species. But attending the workshop has inspired her to incorporate new games in her lessons for the upcoming school year, she said. 

For example, Montano said, she鈥檚 interested in using parts of the kukui tree as a natural dye for some of her students鈥� projects after taking a tour of the center鈥檚 garden and learning more about the use of different plants. Students are eager to learn more about the environment and native plants, especially those that are growing in their own communities, she said. 

鈥淭hey know what鈥檚 in their area,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just something far out of reach.鈥�

This was originally published by . Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

A heavy, authoritative thud echoed through the Hawai鈥榠 House chamber as Speaker Rilynn Kawaiko驶olilihilihiokalikolehua Perez brought down the gavel. Student delegates settled into their seats, shuffling papers and readying for another round of debate: 驶Aha 驶艑pio was back in session. 

The big topic of the day was vaping, with a proposal on the floor to increase the tax on vaping products by 75% to discourage teen use. Before the bill could move forward, student Rep. Zoe Martinez introduced an amendment that turned the measure on its head: eliminate the tax entirely and lower the legal age to purchase vaping products from 21 to 18. 

鈥淚f it鈥檚 not something only adults can do,鈥� she told fellow delegates, 鈥渋t鈥檚 not as cool.鈥�

For the next several minutes, delegates debated addiction, personal responsibility and government regulation 鈥� weighing competing visions of how lawmakers should respond to a problem affecting their generation. Another said the same rhetoric could be used to support lowering the drinking age, which, in their opinion, would not stop young people from drinking either. 

The teens never found an easy answer, but it was exactly the kind of conversation the mock legislative event run by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs was designed to inspire. And they were confronting a central reality of politics: Even when everyone agrees there is a problem, agreeing on a solution can be the most difficult part.

Last week, 38 Native Hawaiian high school students from different islands, states and backgrounds drafted bills, held committee hearings and learned the intricacies of parliamentary procedure. It was the first 驶Aha 驶艑pio o OHA hosted by the organization in more than 20 years. 

Of the 76 seats in the Hawai鈥榠 State Legislature, only about 13 are held by Native Hawaiians, according to legislative data. For OHA, that statistic is part of what makes early civic education and exposure to government systems so critical 鈥� helping students understand not only how laws are made, but helping them see themselves within that process.

驶Aha 驶艑pio is designed to place Native Hawaiian youth directly inside the structures of government while grounding them in cultural values and connection.

鈥淭here鈥檚 critical importance in equipping our Native Hawaiian youth with the information that they need to advocate for our people, for our 驶膩ina,鈥� said K奴leianuhea Awo-Chun, director of education and culture-based learning strategy and implementation at OHA. 

She said the program is also built around pilina, or the relationships students form throughout the week.

鈥淚t鈥檚 creating a network of young leaders that are poised to work together and make change,鈥� she said.

The program鈥檚 impact can extend beyond the mock legislature trial. Awo-Chun said a proposal developed during a 驶Aha 驶艑pio session decades ago helped inspire later efforts to establish tuition waivers for Native Hawaiian students at the University of Hawai驶i.

At the center of the chamber simulation were two student leaders tasked with guiding their peers through the week鈥檚 debate. 

Speaker Perez and Vice Speaker Wehena Hussey-Townsend were elected by fellow student delegates to manage floor proceedings, guide discussion, and enforce parliamentary procedure as bills moved through the mock legislature. 

Perez, a senior at 驶Iolani School, said stepping into the role of a legislator for the first time carried an unexpected emotional weight as she looked around the chamber for the first time. 

鈥淚 was so overwhelmed with respect for the real legislators and what they have to do, and how big of a role they play in shaping Hawai鈥榠,鈥� Perez said. 鈥淚 was just hit with this realization that I am here and I am now learning to step into their boots and take on that giant privilege. I almost cried thinking about it.鈥�

Samantha Kela鈥檚 favorite part of the experience was how deeply the group got to know each other. 

鈥淵ou get to know each other and their morals and what they think is right for their place,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e slept, ate, talked, and basically lived together this whole time.鈥�

Perez echoed that sentiment, saying one of her biggest takeaways from the week was the importance of the relationships formed among delegates.

Even as the students joked with each other after the end of the event, the conversation returned again and again to a shared seriousness: how their generation is already directly impacted by the issues they were debating on the floor.

鈥淲e鈥檙e a bunch of teenagers and you wouldn鈥檛 think that we have all of these ideas about our 驶膩ina,鈥� Kela said. 鈥淏ut we do, and we have to talk about it.鈥�

A huge goal of the event is getting students to see the role Native Hawaiian youth should play in shaping Hawai鈥榠鈥檚 future. Both delegates and organizers said programs like 驶Aha 驶艑pio are important because they provide something many young people feel they lack: a direct pathway into civic engagement. 

鈥淚 think that many of us as youth feel that our voices don鈥檛 matter in the government for whatever reason and that we can鈥檛 make a change,鈥� Perez said. 

One of the most meaningful aspects of the program for Hussey-Townsend was watching Native Hawaiian students from other states reconnect with Hawai驶i and participate in conversations about its future.

鈥淚 loved seeing the students from the continent and their eyes light up at every opportunity there was to help Hawai驶i,鈥� Hussey-Townsend said. 鈥淣ative Hawaiian youth today need to understand that their voice matters here, no matter where you were born.鈥�

Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

After a power failure knocked out electricity in parts of L膩na驶i High and Elementary School in 2021, the state set up temporary electrical lines to get the lights back on.

Five years later, the so-called temporary lines are still there.

Four portable classrooms and a building housing the boys鈥� locker room were affected when the school鈥檚 underground electrical line failed, said Karen de Brum, a longtime teacher at the school. An electrical cable now pulls power from the autoshop and runs to nearby classrooms by cutting through the boys鈥� locker room 鈥� rendering the showers unusable.聽

鈥淭he whole thing is frustrating because everybody agrees that this is not safe,鈥� she said. 

Education department spokesperson Nanea Ching confirmed the school has limited access to parts of the boys鈥� and girls鈥� locker rooms. But students are able to use another locker room with showers, she said, and the school has continued to run its athletic and physical education programs.

The electrical system receives regular inspections from facilities staff, Ching said. 

Because the temporary power line diverts electricity from the autoshop, the building is now running with limited power, said de Brum, who also serves as the school鈥檚 career and technical education coordinator. As a result, she said, the school has been unable to install a car lift that was donated around the same time as the 2021 power outage. 

鈥淚f we don鈥檛 get this going, we鈥檙e going to lose our opportunity,鈥� she said. 鈥淓verything鈥檚 in place except the electricity.鈥� 

Teachers and school advocates have pushed lawmakers and school leaders for answers to little avail. After months of communication with the education department, it鈥檚 unclear if the school has received dedicated funding to fix its electrical system or why the campus has continued to go without repairs, community member Mary Charles said. 

鈥淣othing鈥檚 fixed,鈥� Charles said.

This year, the education department received $448 million for major campus construction projects, including deferred maintenance initiatives like significant electrical repairs to campuses. The department currently has 3,826 deferred maintenance projects with an estimated cost of nearly $1.3 billion, Ching said.

Because L膩na驶i High and Elementary requires a permanent repair to its underground electrical line, Ching said, the fix is part of the education department鈥檚 backlog of deferred maintenance projects. The department is still establishing a timeline for completing the project but anticipates starting work in 2027, she said. 

鈥淭he Department remains committed to restoring full functionality to campus facilities and ensuring students have access to the programs and spaces they need,鈥� she said.  

Fixed It!

In mid-May, the education department restored power to the Kal膩heo High School聽. The building was without electricity 鈥� including air conditioning and overhead lighting 鈥� for eight months.聽

Who Can Be Contacted?

Hawai驶i Department of Education Office of Facilities and Operations, 808-784-5000. 

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Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

For many schools, it鈥檚 a race to keep up. Others are leading the pack. And some are unsure what to do with it.

Artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly prominent role in Hawai驶i education, from the recent opening of the state鈥檚 first AI-focused charter school to the development of new coursework teaching students how to navigate rapidly changing technology. Teachers are also coming face-to-face with new technology, whether it鈥檚 using AI avatars to test students鈥� grasp of Mandarin Chinese vocabulary or confronting kids who are submitting assignments written by ChatGPT.

But there鈥檚 wide variation in how much teachers and students are willing to engage with the new technology. Civil Beat spoke with nearly two dozen educators, administrators and students across the state about their experiences with AI in schools and what they expect the future to look like.

A few years ago, the focus of AI in education was preventing students from cheating, said Michael Latham, president of Punahou School. Since then, he said, administrators and teachers at the O驶ahu private school have pivoted to teaching students how to use new tools responsibly, rather than banning them altogether. 

鈥淲e wanted our students to become really thoughtful and critical users,鈥� Latham said, 鈥渢o be able to understand these tools, but do so really with eyes wide open, aware of what some of the challenges would be.鈥� 

Public schools are piloting their own technology, including MagicSchool, a platform with AI tools like image generators and chatbots that teachers can tailor to their own lessons, said Winston Sakurai, educational administrative services director in the Department of Education鈥檚 Office of Curriculum and Instructional Design.  

While teachers receive training on how to use these platforms, Sakurai acknowledges that some are faster to embrace technology than others. It鈥檚 important for schools to find a balance between innovating with AI and meeting teachers where they鈥檙e at, he said. 

鈥淲e want people to embrace it,鈥� Sakurai said, 鈥渂ut we cannot afford to burn people out with the adoption of it.鈥� 

Students also have varying levels of enthusiasm for the new technology. Some are emerging as statewide experts in the field, with one Punahou student developing resources to help teachers incorporate AI into their lessons. Others are more skeptical of the technology after they鈥檝e seen their classmates cheat on assignments or receive incorrect information from AI chatbots.  

鈥淚 think personally, AI is a useful and dangerous tool,鈥� said Charwin Irebaria, a junior at McKinley High School. 鈥淧eople should be cautious about what they try to get out of AI, because it can really affect our future.鈥� 

McKinley High School

In Cynthia Reves鈥� McKinley High School classroom, an assortment of items litter students鈥� desks: a bear-shaped pencil case, neon highlighters, a manila folder stuffed with papers. 

Laptops and iPads are conspicuously absent from students鈥� workspaces. Teens place their cellphones in mint green containers minutes after the bell rings and leave their devices there for the remainder of class. 

Like many teachers, Reves is questioning if her students are using AI on their assignments 鈥� and whether it鈥檚 appropriate for them to do so. In the past year, she鈥檚 tried to eliminate some of the uncertainty by doubling down on paper and pencil assignments and reducing students鈥� use of laptops and cellphones in her class. 

鈥淲hat is dishonest use of AI?鈥� Reves said. 鈥淭hat implies there鈥檚 an honest use of AI. What is that?鈥� 

On a Friday morning in May, Reves ran her students through a series of short writing exercises to prepare them for their upcoming Advanced Placement English Language and Composition exam. Although the test would be online, Reves tasked her students with annotating passages and writing thesis statements by hand. 

鈥淚t feels like this huge tension,鈥� Reves said. 鈥淚 feel like I鈥檓 walking backwards, and yet there鈥檚 this AI thing that鈥檚 pulling forward.鈥�

Reves went to school in the 1980s, when students used typewriters to complete assignments and Macintosh computers were the newest technology. Reves has constantly adapted to change in her 30 years in education, from teaching remotely to managing cellphones in class, but she鈥檚 worried about how the latest AI tools could impact students鈥� learning. 

In the past, Reves said, she could quickly identify when a student didn鈥檛 write a paper on their own. Just by plugging the opening sentences of a paper into Google, she said, she could tell when students found a copy of a similar assignment online and claimed it as their own. 

Now, Reves doubts herself. While she occasionally questions if students have written an essay on their own, they鈥檒l deny using AI 鈥� and there鈥檚 no way to prove it, Reves said. Many AI detection tools have proven unreliable. 

Reves now confines most of her writing assignments to the classroom, rather than assigning essays as homework. If students want to finish a writing assignment during study hall, she said, she requires their teacher to sign off on the paper at the end of the period, affirming that the student completed the work on their own. 

But Reves also knows she can鈥檛 avoid AI forever. At the end of a recent English class, she assigned her students homework requiring them to read a short passage and answer questions. Once they completed the assignment, she said, they could run the writing prompts through AI to see how their answers compared to what the chatbot suggested.  

She wouldn鈥檛 have offered this option in August, Reves said. But her students have developed stronger writing skills and judgment throughout the year, and she believes they can now evaluate the AI responses鈥� critically.  

鈥淚 trust you,鈥� Reves told her students.  

Mid-Pacific Institute 

Leslie Gleim鈥檚 preschool students at Mid-Pacific Institute are confident they can outsmart ChatGPT.

On a recent Wednesday morning, Gleim led a small group of 5-year-olds in a lively conversation about the observations they made on a recent field trip to Ho驶omaluhia Botanical Garden. She encouraged students to use their imagination to describe the clouds and explain how they came to life during their visit.  

鈥淚t was the happiest cloud!鈥� one boy said. Another student speculated some of the clouds looked sad because the class hadn鈥檛 visited the garden for a few weeks. 

As the children chimed in, ChatGPT transcribed the discussion word for word on Gleim鈥檚 phone. Later, Gleim asked it to summarize the themes that emerged during the students鈥� conversation and compared the notes against her own observations.

The AI tool didn鈥檛 go unnoticed by the kids. 

鈥淲e seem smarter than Chat,鈥� one student, Knox, said as Gleim checked the AI transcription on her phone. 

鈥淎re you?鈥� she asked. The group of kids erupted into cheers and enthusiastic nods. 

A few minutes later, Knox and his classmates put their theory to the test. One by one, they spoke into Gleim鈥檚 phone, asking ChatGPT abstract questions about their field trip to the garden and the personalities they gave the clouds during their discussion. 

After every question, Gleim asked her students to evaluate ChatGPT鈥檚 answers. Students were skeptical of the responses the AI generated 鈥� and Gleim was proud. 

鈥淵ou guys won!鈥� she said as students gave ChatGPT鈥檚 answers a resounding thumbs-down.

Using ChatGPT to record and transcribe her discussions with students has significantly saved her time over the past year, Gleim said. It also increases the stakes for students. When students know ChatGPT is listening to their conversation, she said, they鈥檙e more intentional with their words. 

But Gleim doesn鈥檛 want kids to think AI is the source of all answers. When she uses ChatGPT in front of her students, she said, she鈥檚 not afraid to point out its mistakes, using phrases like, 鈥淐hat didn鈥檛 get it.鈥�  

鈥淚t鈥檚 not the gospel, but a tool,鈥� she said. 

Hawai驶i Technology Academy

Two years ago, Kingston Collman came to a sombering realization: AI was coming for his dream job.

Collman, a recent graduate from Hawai驶i Technology Academy鈥檚 Waipahu campus, spent his early years of high school studying game development and planned to pursue a career in computer science. But as AI became more advanced, he realized projects taking him a year and a half to complete could be completed in minutes by new technology. 

鈥淚 was like, freshman year, AI is going to take over,鈥� the 18-year-old said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to study for six years ahead and then be jobless.鈥� 

Collman pivoted to using AI to pursue his passion of producing social media content. For his end-of-year project, Collman developed an AI assistant to expedite the process of creating videos for social media. The assistant can generate scripts, suggest a list of video shots and assist with creating social media posts in a matter of minutes 鈥� a process that previously took him over an hour, Collman said.

The goal is to increase content creators鈥� efficiency, not to remove humans from social media altogether, Collman said, adding that viewers still want to see authentic content. 

It鈥檚 hard to tell what the future will look like for social media creators, however, and he鈥檚 worried more content could become AI-generated. Already, AI slop 鈥� low-quality videos created with AI 鈥� are becoming聽聽on YouTube and other online platforms.聽

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 real or not,鈥� he said, 鈥渨hich is very dangerous.鈥� 

Some of Collman鈥檚 peers are equally skeptical of AI and how it could dominate fields traditionally untouched by technology. 

Adriana Hunt, another recent graduate from Hawai驶i Technology Academy, is still reconciling how she can use AI to promote her artwork without compromising her creativity. For her end-of-year project, the 18-year-old asked ChatGPT to analyze her TikTok and Instagram art accounts and provide feedback on what types of posts were most likely to grow her online following. 

ChatGPT offered her advice she previously hadn鈥檛 considered, Hunt said, like adding more hashtags to her social media posts or posting more about her process of creating drawings. 

Hunt draws the line at using AI to create new art.  

When one of her teachers suggested using AI to generate ideas for her art or assist with her drawings, Hunt immediately rejected the idea. She uses art as a way to express herself and challenge her creativity 鈥� something that can鈥檛 be replicated by a few keystrokes on the computer, Hunt said. She鈥檚 also worried that relying on AI to generate art could set impossibly high standards.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 never going to go away, because it鈥檚 now so woven into the fabric of everything,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淏ut we can learn how to rely on it less.鈥� 

K奴lia Academy

In James Morice鈥檚 data science class, sixth graders throw out phrases like 鈥渂imodal distributions鈥� and 鈥渞ight-skewed graphs鈥� with ease. 

At K奴lia Academy, a charter school in Kalihi, data science and coding are just as important to the curriculum as English and math. K奴lia is Hawai驶i鈥檚  middle and high school, opening in 2024 with ambitious plans to develop a seven-year program specializing in data science and coding.  

Before students can pursue careers in AI engineering and technology, Morice said, they have to learn the basics. 

On a recent Thursday morning, sixth graders at K奴lia were working together to examine graphs and input formulas in Google Sheets that could help them analyze a large dataset on the maximum speeds of roller coasters across the country.    

鈥淲hat does every case represent?鈥� Morice asked the class. 鈥淲hat are the attributes you see?鈥�

The goal is to give students the expertise they need to understand how AI works so they can go on to develop new tools. 

Students still receive plenty of opportunities to work with new technology at K奴lia Academy, executive director Andy Gokce said. In English classes, Gokce said, students work with ChatGPT to receive feedback on their essays under the guidance of their teachers. Others have learned how to train AI models to distinguish between venomous and non-venomous snakes.

But Gokce doesn鈥檛 want his students to simply consume AI 鈥� he expects them to go on to lead the field and develop new technology as engineers or cybersecurity experts.聽

鈥淲e want them to know, inside and out, how it actually works,鈥� Gokce said.  

Wai膩kea Intermediate School

Can students beat AI? 

It鈥檚 a challenge sixth graders were eager to tackle in Tyler Kojima鈥檚 world history class at Wai膩kea Intermediate School on the Big Island. 

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Kojima tasked his students with defending a historical invention of their choice to an AI chatbot. He had programmed the chatbot to be skeptical of students鈥� inventions, which ranged from the Mesopotamian wheel to the woodblock printing technique. 

Kojima鈥檚 students could hold a conversation with the chatbot to convince it of the value of their invention, but they had to prove their point in eight messages or fewer. 

鈥淵ou鈥檙e not trying to throw in the towel,鈥� Kojima told his students. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e trying to beat it.鈥�

For the next 30 minutes, students furiously typed on their laptops as they responded to detailed questions from the chatbots. 

鈥淗ow do you know it鈥檚 more comfortable?鈥� the chatbot challenged one student who was trying to sell it on the value of a new camel saddle. 

鈥淲hy should we trust ordinary citizens to make important decisions about our city?鈥� it said in response to a pitch about Athenian democracy. 

It鈥檚 natural for people to be resistant to new innovations and change, Kojima told his sixth graders. When AI emerged a few years ago, he said, many adults were skeptical of the new technology 鈥� and so were his students.聽聽

At the start of the year, Kojima said, many students believed AI was taboo. Most sixth graders don鈥檛 seem to use AI in their personal lives, Kojima said, and were wary about using it for the first time. 

Kojima is hoping to change students鈥� perceptions by introducing AI tools like chatbots and image generators that can make abstract topics in world history feel more concrete and exciting. He said he鈥檚 also careful to set clear limitations on how students can use the technology, instructing the chatbots not to give students immediate answers during class activities and occasionally rejecting the feedback kids receive on their essays from AI writing tools.  

鈥淭his tool is not going away,鈥� Kojima recalled telling his students. 鈥淚t鈥檚 up to you guys to know how to use it responsibly.鈥� 

Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

As a college student, Nicole Dolor-Bala was spending full days in schools, helping teachers with their lessons and attending staff meetings. The rigorous work prepared her for a career in special education and gave her the experience she needed to earn her teacher鈥檚 license and undergraduate degree in education. 

But for the most part, Dolor-Bala wasn鈥檛 paid for her work as a student teacher. To make ends meet, she worked as a waitress and educational assistant, balancing her jobs with college courses and student teaching requirements.   

鈥淚t was hard to juggle all of that and to really juggle all the assignments that we had to do,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was always really tired.鈥� 

In summer 2024, state leaders proposed a solution to give students more incentives to pursue education careers. A teacher apprenticeship, funded by nearly $5 million in federal grants, would pay them for full-time work in schools while allowing them to earn their teaching credentials for free. 

Nearly two years later, the state hasn鈥檛 spent any of the federal funds and the grant is set to expire next summer, although the Hawai驶i Department of Labor and Industrial Relations may apply for an extension. 

The delay has partially stemmed from a disagreement between two powerful unions representing school employees, which both argued that apprentices should have to join their membership. 

The unions 鈥� the Hawai驶i State Teachers Association and the Hawai驶i Government Employees Association 鈥� declined to comment, citing the ongoing finalization of the apprenticeship program.

The Hawai驶i Teacher Standards Board, which is responsible for developing and implementing the apprenticeship, did not respond to requests for comment. 

The unions have recently struck a tentative agreement, said Rep. Amy Perruso, who鈥檚 hopeful the apprenticeship can start recruiting teachers next school year. But the state still needs to step up its spending of the federal funds, she said, especially as schools continue to rely on long-term substitutes and unlicensed teachers to . 

Since the state first received the apprenticeship grant, the number of unlicensed teachers in public schools has grown from 670 to 1,000. 

鈥淚t took too long,鈥� said Perruso, a former high school teacher. 鈥淏ut I am hopeful now that the tentative compromise is in place, that we can start dispersing those funds and really investing in that teacher apprenticeship program.鈥�

What鈥檚 The Delay?

State lawmakers and school leaders enthusiastically announced  in federal funding for an apprenticeship program in 2024, arguing the initiative could help solve the teacher shortage by providing not just financial support but robust training for prospective educators.

The program planned to serve more than 140 aspiring educators, who would gain classroom experience as full-time educational assistants while working under experienced teachers. As apprentices gained more experience through the program, their wages would increase, said Nathan Murata, dean of the College of Education at the University of Hawai驶i M膩noa.

Next year, the starting salary for an educational assistant is roughly $3,000 a month, according to  from the education department. 

The apprenticeship would also cover the costs of teacher licensing programs through UH, which might range from four-year undergraduate degrees to shorter post-baccalaureate programs, Murata said. The program also plans to pay mentor teachers, who provide training and guidance to apprentices.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a good program,鈥� Murata said, adding that the apprenticeship could help current educational assistants take the next step in their careers by becoming teachers. 鈥淚t can certainly help with the recruitment of teachers.鈥� 

When Hawai驶i first received the federal apprenticeship grant, state officials said they were committed to spending the money in three years even though they were still developing plans for implementing the program. 

Two years later, it remains unclear what the timeline will be. 

So far, the state hasn鈥檛 touched the $4.9 million grant that ends in June 2027, state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations spokesperson Bill Kunstman said in an emailed statement. The department plans to request an extension from the federal Department of Labor, Kunstman said, adding that teacher apprenticeships typically take more time to implement than other programs. 

The department doesn鈥檛 have an estimate of when it will apply for an extension or how long the extension will be, Kunstman said. 

Earlier this year, members of the teacher standards board came under fire from lawmakers, who questioned why the apprenticeship had stalled. For months, the board鈥檚 response remained the same: the proposal was stuck in the collective bargaining phase, and two of the main unions representing school employees couldn鈥檛 come to an agreement over who should oversee the apprentices. 

The  for the program said apprentices would belong to the Hawai驶i Government Employees Association, which represents roughly 7,800 school workers, including educational assistants. But the teachers union pushed back, arguing apprentices should join their organization since they would be doing the work of student teachers. 

鈥淭hey should be moved into our bargaining unit because they鈥檇 be doing teaching work,鈥� Andrea Eshelman, executive director of the teachers union, told lawmakers in March. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been unable to move forward.鈥� 

Perruso said the unions recently came to a tentative compromise, which would place apprentices under the Hawai驶i Government Employees Association for most of their training. Near the end of the program, she said, apprentices would join the teachers union, where they would remain once they earned their licenses and became full-time educators in schools. 

Once the agreement receives approval from everyone involved, including the unions and education department, Kunstman said it will need a final sign-off from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. 

Next Steps

The apprenticeship program鈥檚 delay cost the state valuable time it can鈥檛 afford to lose amid an ongoing teacher shortage, lawmakers said in hearings earlier this year. 

While teacher vacancies have declined since the Covid-19 pandemic, the state is increasingly relying on temporary measures to fill open positions. The number of , also known as emergency hires, has ballooned from fewer than 400 to roughly 1,000 over the past four years. 

Without an active apprenticeship program, Rep. Trish La Chica said she鈥檚 worried prospective teachers are missing out on opportunities to receive training and mentorship. The state鈥檚 growing population of emergency hires shows that people are interested in pursuing careers in education if they have the right support and funding, she said. 

鈥淲e鈥檝e been so frustrated just seeing the extent to which we鈥檙e losing so many great teachers that want to teach,鈥� La Chica said. 

In the meantime, the state is looking to increase its reliance on unlicensed teachers by allowing them to work in schools for longer. Last week, lawmakers  that would temporarily extend the length of an emergency hire permit from three to five years, giving teachers more time to earn their license. 

The bill has been sent to the governor, who has until July 15 to sign or veto bills. 

Proponents of the bill argue emergency hires need more flexibility to complete their training requirements, since they鈥檙e juggling the demands of a full-time teaching job and coursework. Emergency hires, who must have a bachelor鈥檚 degree and make regular progress toward licensure, are a better alternative than long-term substitutes or vacant positions, some principals and teachers say. 

But Perruso, who voted against that bill, said she鈥檚 worried the measure entrenches unlicensed teachers too deeply in Hawai驶i鈥檚 school system. Rather than extending how long emergency hires can work in schools, she said, the state needs to commit to its apprenticeship program and provide prospective teachers the financial support and training they need. 

鈥淚 really think that this just makes it less likely that we鈥檙e going to seriously address our teacher shortage crisis,鈥� Perruso said. 鈥淎s those emergency hires are in place, there鈥檚 less of an incentive, there鈥檚 a lesser sense of urgency with regard to funding things like our teacher apprenticeship program.鈥� 

Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

Affordable preschool options are few and far between for Hannah Miller, a Waik艒loa mom of a 2- and 4-year-old. 

For more than three years, Miller has relied on a free early learning program run out of a church in Waimea. 

The program has taught her two children new skills, like counting to 10 in Hawaiian and socializing with other kids, Miller said, while also introducing her to a community of other parents. But the program is set to close in the fall as federal funding runs dry for up to 17 early learning sites across the state.

鈥淲e feel like we have nothing for him, so he鈥檚 just going to be home with us,鈥� Miller said about her son, who still has another year before he鈥檚 eligible for kindergarten. 鈥淲e鈥檙e heartbroken.鈥� 

Across the state, early learning programs are struggling to stay afloat amid potential federal funding cuts and reluctance from state lawmakers to fund preschool and child care initiatives this year. While the state faces an ambitious goal to provide preschool to all 3- and 4-year-olds by 2032, the future of the initiative remains unclear as one of its champions, Lt Gov. Sylvia Luke, takes a  amid a state investigation.   

Most early learning bills this year requested state funding to build the teacher workforce or keep child care and preschool programs afloat. But nearly all the proposals died as lawmakers faced significant budget constraints from federal funding cuts and Kona low storm damages amounting to $1 billion mid-way through the session. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e supposed to vote their priorities, and it was just not a priority this year,鈥� said Malia Tsuchiya, early childhood policy and advocacy coordinator at Hawai驶i Children鈥檚 Action Network. 

But failing to invest in early learning programs could have significant consequences for working families and the state鈥檚 economy as a whole, Tsuchiya said. High-quality preschool and child care not only prepare kids for school, she said, but they also allow parents to reenter the workforce and maintain stable employment. 

While Hawai驶i runs some of the highest quality public preschools in the nation, it ranks among the worst states for 4-year-old children鈥檚 access to these programs, according to a  from the National Institute for Early Education Research. 

Coming off a challenging legislative session, advocates worry that momentum around universal preschool could further stall as Luke steps away from office. Luke led lawmakers in appropriating hundreds of millions of dollars for  in 2022, but investments may slow unless lawmakers continue to make early learning access a top priority, Tsuchiya said. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to need our lawmakers to support that investment,鈥� Tsuchiya said. 鈥淥ur priorities shouldn鈥檛 come and go because one person goes.鈥� 

Funding Shortfalls 

O驶ahu parent Danielle Alefosio faced multiple roadblocks when she tried to enroll her 4-year-old daughter in preschool last summer. Some programs had waitlists, she said, while others required $200 to $300 deposits that her family couldn鈥檛 afford. 

But Alefosio found another option: Parkway Village Preschool in Kapolei, which opened as the state鈥檚  last year. Since starting school, Alefosio said, she鈥檚 seen her daughter progress from speaking in gibberish to talking in full sentences and develop a love for learning. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e top tier,鈥� she said. 

Parkway Village is one of two preschool-only charter schools in the state, which serve a total of roughly 180 students and are tuition-free. The two schools receive $171,000 per classroom in state funds, but advocates say it鈥檚 not enough to run high-quality programs and entice others to join the charter school model. 

Providers need roughly $275,000 to $285,000 to run a charter preschool classroom, said Caroline Hayashi, president of the Waik墨k墨 Community Center. The center works as a nonprofit partner with , which serves nearly 100 students. 

Charter schools can work with their nonprofit partners to raise money to cover funding gaps, Hayashi said. But it鈥檚 not possible for nonprofits to cover such significant shortfalls, she said, and insufficient funding from the state could discourage other people from starting their own charter preschools. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 more sites where this could really work,鈥� Hayashi said. 鈥淏ut in order to make that a reality, the key is making it more financially sustainable.鈥� 

Parkway Village Preschool faces a budget shortfall of roughly $100,000 per classroom 鈥� or $400,000 for the entire year, said Trisha Kajimura, vice president at Parents and Children Together, which serves as the preschool鈥檚 nonprofit partner.  would have helped to close the gap by raising state funding to $250,000 per classroom, which is closer to the true costs of operating charter preschools, Kajimura said. 

The bill passed through the House but died when it failed to receive a hearing in the Senate Education Committee, chaired by Sen. Donna Kim. The bill did not have an appropriation amount, although the Hawai驶i State Public Charter School Commission estimated the proposal would cost $790,000 in addition to the existing funds charter preschools receive. 

Funding shortfalls are also affecting early learning programs targeting low-income, rural communities.

A handful of nonprofits across the state run a network of family and child interaction learning centers, which provide free educational programs to infants and toddlers and their caregivers. The programs have historically relied on roughly $20 million from the federal Native Hawaiian Education program. 

But one of the primary nonprofits, Partners in Development Foundation, is in the last few months of its three-year grant, and there have been no opportunities to reapply for federal funding, said president and chief executive officer Shawn Kanaiaupuni.

Nonprofit leaders like Kanaiaupuni asked state lawmakers to fill the funding gap earlier this year, warning that  could close if the federal government stopped awarding grants through the Native Hawaiian Education program.  would have set aside an unspecified amount of state funding to support the programs, but the bill died when it failed to receive a hearing in the Senate Education Committee. 

Partners in Development was able to find other sources of funding to keep 19 of its locations open, but it plans on closing 17 family learning sites in the fall, including all four of its Kaua驶i programs. The closures will affect more than 1,000 children and 1,000 caregivers, Kanaiaupuni said, although she鈥檚 hopeful some county funding will come through to save four sites on Maui. 

鈥淗ow much can our families sustain?鈥� Kanaiaupuni said. 鈥淭he impact is really devastating.鈥� 

Other nonprofits operating similar family learning programs are able to keep their sites open for now, but the future of federal funding remains uncertain. The proposed version of the 2027 federal budget eliminates funding for the Native Hawaiian Education program entirely, and there鈥檚 no guarantee that the federal education department will award grants in a timely manner even if Congress appropriates the money, U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda said. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge impact on our communities,鈥� Tokuda said. 鈥淲e need to continue to make sure that this funding is available and that it鈥檚 awarded and it gets to where it needs to go.鈥� 

Pre-K Needs A Champion

Despite a tumultuous session for early learning programs, Tsuchiya said she鈥檚 still optimistic the state can reach its goal of providing preschool to all 3- and 4-year-olds by 2032. The state has renovated and constructed 81 preschool classrooms in the past three years and plans on opening another 26 this summer, according to the School Facilities Authority, the agency tasked with building new preschools.  

As of October, the state projected it needed to build  to provide universal access to preschool by 2032. 

But the state needs continued investments in preschool expansion to maintain its progress and hit its 2032 goal, Tsuchiya said. While the School Facilities Authority requested $31 million for preschool construction, lawmakers set aside $20 million in the most recent version of the budget. 

Early learning providers have also raised concerns that the teacher workforce can鈥檛 keep up with the state鈥檚 demand for new classrooms.  aimed to address the problem by setting aside state funds for an apprenticeship program, which would allow prospective teachers to work in early learning classrooms and get paid while earning their early educator credentials. 

鈥淢y desire here is to focus more on the workforce pipeline to make sure we have these early childhood education workers ready to fill these buildings as they get built out,鈥� said Rep. Andrew Garrett, who introduced the bill. He estimates the program would cost roughly $8 million. 

The bill failed to pass out of conference committee.

Moving forward, it鈥檚 critical for preschool access to remain a top priority for state officials, said Kerrie Urosevich, executive director of Early Childhood Action Strategy. While Luke has pushed for the aggressive expansion of preschool access in recent years, Urosevich said, she鈥檚 worried progress could stall unless the governor or next lieutenant governor continues to champion the issue. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it has enough momentum on its own,鈥� Urosevich said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 going to require a champion.鈥�

This was originally published on .

An incident where schoolchildren were hit with pepper spray at an O驶ahu school has added momentum to calls for counselors, not cops, on campus.聽

In late February, a Honolulu police officer deployed pepper spray against Kapolei Middle School students while trying to break up a fight, a rare use of force against Hawai驶i minors in an educational setting.聽

Emily Hills, senior attorney with the ACLU of Hawai驶i, said she would like to see more counselors and mental health professionals addressing issues on campus rather than police, who can sometimes escalate tensions.

鈥淲e are talking about kids in school and concerns about criminalizing behavior that really should be better dealt with through school officials or authorities,鈥� she said. 鈥淎side from whether or not this is constitutionally excessive force, was this really necessary?鈥澛�

A police officer told attendees at a neighborhood board meeting that the officer used the pepper spray because he was outnumbered. 

School safety is an ever-present concern and high-profile fights in recent years led parents and politicians to  in some O驶ahu schools. School resource officers were  in Kaimuk墨, Kapolei and Wai驶anae in January. 

There was no SRO present during the February middle school incident but some advocates, say is was nonetheless a sign there should be less police presence in schools, not more. They want to instead see a focus on getting more counselors and therapists in schools to help address student mental health and behavioral issues to prevent problems such as fights and bullying. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 shocking to think of pepper spray being used with children that age,鈥� said Deborah Bond-Upson, president of the organization Parents for Public Schools. 鈥淚 just think we need to do everything we can to make the atmosphere in our schools more peaceful and positive.鈥� 

Bond-Upson was pushing this session for passage of , which would be a first step toward requiring licensure for school psychologists in Hawai驶i. Hawai驶i is the  that doesn鈥檛 require its school psychologists to be licensed by the state board of psychology. 

The Education Committee deferred the bill last week, which generally kills a bill鈥檚 chances of making it through session. Committee Chair Donna Kim did not respond to a request for comment on why.

The Department of Education is also asking the Legislature for , who are school psychologists assigned to work with students with the highest levels of mental health needs. 

The interventionists would focus on assessing a student鈥檚 risk of self-harm or harming their peers and also help with transitions if the student is referred to an educational placement outside of a traditional classroom setting. 

Bond-Upson said she wishes more mental health support could help prevent fights and serious bullying from happening in the first place. She fears the use of pepper spray in response to the fight at Kapolei Middle School will lead to more negative consequences for students. 

鈥淚鈥檓 afraid it alienates them from the police. I鈥檓 afraid it makes them less comfortable being in school,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o I would just want to see that we do everything we can to avoid that kind of situation, and one of the biggest things we need to do is to really fund psychological support in our schools.鈥�

Three Students Arrested 

The fight at Kapolei Middle School broke out around 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 24. A group of girls had attacked another girl, Honolulu police Cpl. Roland Pagan shared at a public meeting. 

A responding officer, who would be the only officer on scene, grabbed one of the girls who was assaulting the victim and attempted to arrest her. A group of girls then grabbed the officer and other kids grabbed ahold of the girl he was trying to arrest, Pagan said. At that point, the officer used pepper spray. 

The incident occurred after school near the back entrance of campus, according to a statement from Department of Education spokeswoman Nanea Ching. School officials didn鈥檛 know how many students were involved, but she said no serious injuries were reported and those who were affected by the pepper spray were near the officer. 

One girl was arrested on a charge of third-degree assault, and two others were arrested for resisting arrest. Police declined to provide the ages of the girls and said they would not release further information.

Christine Denton, spokeswoman for the Honolulu Prosecutor鈥檚 Office, said the office is prohibited from discussing juvenile cases. Criminal justice records involving minors in Hawai驶i are shielded by law from public view. 

In a letter sent home to parents, Kapolei Middle School Principal Daryl Agena said the pepper spray was deployed to 鈥渄isperse the crowd and restore order.鈥� 

Leslie Keating, the parent of an eighth grader at Kapolei Middle School, brought up her concerns about the incident at a Makakilo-Kapolei-Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board meeting in February. She said her son was not present during the fight, but she was worried about the use of pepper spray on young students. Kapolei Middle School includes grades 6-8, and students could be anywhere from 11 to 14 years old. 

鈥淭hese are chemical weapons that have chemicals that we don鈥檛 know the long-term effects of,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not okay with it.鈥�  

Pagan said he is unaware of any long-term effects of pepper spray. 

鈥淧epper spray is one of our lowest-level uses of force,鈥� Pagan told the neighborhood board, 鈥渁nd he used it because he was outnumbered.鈥� 

鈥楨xtreme Force鈥�

Keating told Civil Beat she doesn鈥檛 agree with the use of pepper spray on students or adults, but she is especially concerned about its use at a middle school where some children may have asthma or other breathing issues that make them particularly sensitive.聽

鈥淚 mean, some of these kids weigh 80 pounds, they don鈥檛 have adult bodies yet,鈥� she said in an interview. 鈥淪o using pepper spray on them, I don鈥檛 know, it very much irked me.鈥澛�

Jannet Lee-Jayaram, an emergency pediatrician and clinical associate professor with the University of Hawai驶i鈥檚 John A. Burns School of Medicine, said pepper spray isn鈥檛 known to have long-term effects, but it can cause injuries to the lungs and eyes, including corneal abrasions from people rubbing their eyes too hard after exposure.

In the short term, pepper spray can cause intense pain in the eyes, irritation in the nose and lungs and burning of the skin. 

The use of chemical agents, like pepper spray, sits in the middle of the spectrum in . The policy ranges from techniques with the lowest risk of injury to those with the highest risk of serious injury or death. 

The first three options are officer presence, verbal directions and physical contact. Chemical agents, including pepper spray, are listed as the fourth option. The options escalate from there, including using physical strikes, canines or even firearms. 

The policy states that the use of chemical agents on a crowd should be directed by an incident commander on scene unless an officer believes someone is in immediate danger of serious injury or death. 

Wookie Kim, legal director of the ACLU of Hawai驶i, said it鈥檚 difficult to determine whether the officer鈥檚 use of pepper spray in this scenario was justified without knowing more of the details. But, he noted of chemical agents should be reserved for the most threatening scenarios. 

In an instance like this one, which involved young people at school, other deescalation methods should have been considered first. 

鈥淲e should be very concerned about the use of such extreme force with middle schoolers,鈥� he said. 

鈥楥ounselors Not Cops鈥� 

Pepper spray has been used at schools before in Hawai驶i 鈥� and around the country. 

In 2023, Honolulu police officers  to break up a fight at Kapolei High School. Paramedics treated multiple students for exposure but no serious injuries were reported, according to an HNN article from the time. 

In other parts of the country, however, children have been hospitalized from pepper spray exposure at school. 

In February, a 12-year-old in Tulsa, Oklahoma, went to the hospital after  students participating in an ICE protest outside their school. In September, 32 students and faculty members at a Florida high school were hospitalized after school police and administrators  to break up a large fight. 

The incident at Kapolei Middle School brings up the question of whether police officers should be the ones addressing student behavioral problems on campus, Kim, of the ACLU, said.  

鈥淥ur whole position is that we shouldn鈥檛 have substantial police presence on school campuses,鈥�  he said. 鈥淲e want counselors, not cops.鈥� 

The focus, many advocates and parents say, should shift to getting more mental health support for students. 

During the last Education Committee, committee members and testifiers discussed HB1889 and debated whether creating a license structure would help or hinder the Department of Education鈥檚 ability to recruit more psychologists and fill its vacancies. 

Currently, a psychologist  to work as a school psychologist in Hawai驶i. 

While advocates say creating a license structure would create training and ethical standards for the position, Sen. Donna Kim questioned whether adding the requirement would create more bureaucratic hoops for school psychologists to jump through.  

But Bond-Upson, of the Parents for Public Schools group, said requiring licences would allow eligible services in schools to be reimbursed by Medicaid. 

Overall, she said she hopes the pepper spray incident can lead to change in how behavioral issues are handled at schools. 

鈥淚 am heartbroken that the police had to enter the situation,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 why my first responses are, 鈥榃hat is it we can do to make the atmosphere of the school such that this kind of alarming behavior does not happen to kids and with kids?鈥欌��

Parents, lawmakers and county leaders across Hawai驶i have made a recurring request to the education department in recent years: open up school playgrounds and fields for the public when classes aren鈥檛 in session.

The ask seemed to be gaining traction at the start of this year, with lawmakers introducing multiple proposals to require the Department of Education to make recreational facilities available to communities. Halfway through the session, however, the Legislature is moving in the opposite direction with a bill to crack down on school trespassing that may also criminalize parents.

Under Senate Bill 2611, families who set foot on school grounds on weekends or holidays could face聽聽without even receiving a warning from police or school administrators.聽Consequences could include up to a year in jail and $2,000 in fines. The bill passed through the Senate and is now awaiting a hearing in the House.聽

Not all after-hours visitors intend to vandalize school campuses, said parent Maya Childress. School playgrounds can be a weekend gathering place for families, especially in communities without city parks in walking distance.

鈥淧eople are just trying to get their kids out of the house and into a safe and controlled environment,鈥� Childress said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just making it more difficult.鈥� 

Some school districts on the mainland have gone the other way, opening up their campuses for more public use. For example, in the San Diego Unified School District, people can use many school fields and playgrounds on the weekends as well as in the afternoons. In exchange, the city helps upkeep the campuses.

But two bills to expand the public鈥檚 weekend access to Hawai驶i schools died in the House and Senate Education Committees last month. Rep. Trish La Chica, who authored one of them, said she鈥檚 determined to find a compromise that allows families to use campus facilities for recreation, while still addressing schools鈥� concerns about liability and safety. 

鈥淭he perception is that there鈥檚 nothing we can do to promote recreation and physical activity,鈥� La Chica said. 鈥淚 feel like we should be willing to work through the logistics of that to grant more access to our community.鈥� 

Changing Families鈥� Behavior? 

In recent legislative hearings, principals have raised concerns about worsening vandalism, homelessness and unsanitary conditions on their campuses. Property damage and trash left on campuses put an additional burden on teachers and custodians, and principals say schools need to hold trespassers accountable for damaging school spaces on the weekends.  

鈥淓very Monday morning, my staff is forced to deal with a staggering array of vandalism and biohazards before students can safely step onto campus,鈥� Kaimuk墨 High School Principal Lorelei Aiwohi said in written testimony to the Legislature.

Under the current law, individuals can be charged for trespassing on campuses on the weekends or holidays, but they need to have first received a warning from administrators or law enforcement. No warning is required to charge people trespassing on school campuses at night, between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

DOE doesn鈥檛 track the number of calls to the police regarding trespassing after school hours, Communications Director Nanea Ching said.  

If passed, Superintendent Keith Hayashi said in his written testimony, Senate Bill 2611 could protect against harassment and violence against school employees 鈥� a growing problem that gained  after a parent assaulted a high school athletic director last year.

Eliminating the warning requirement for trespassers could help schools more effectively address aggressive or unsafe behavior on campus, said K膩ne驶ohe Elementary Principal Derek Minakami. 

While schools may have cameras and alarm systems installed on campus, Minakami said they don鈥檛 always have the 24/7 security needed to catch intruders and call the police. In some cases, he noted, things don鈥檛 have to go that far because written warnings to families and community members about trespassing on campus have been enough to deter unwanted behavior. 

At Holomua Elementary in 驶Ewa Beach, Principal Christopher Bonilla said he鈥檚 hopeful that changing the state trespassing law will discourage the public from entering school campuses on the weekends. If the bill passes, he said, schools and lawmakers would need to clearly communicate the change to their communities to impact people鈥檚 behavior.  

鈥淚f the public is more aware of this, they鈥檒l think twice,鈥� he said.

But Childress said she鈥檚 skeptical that changing the trespassing law will deter families from visiting school playgrounds on the weekends, especially in communities with limited alternatives. Families are drawn to local elementary schools that can offer safe spaces for their kids to play and socialize, she said, and are willing to chance a rare encounter with the police. 

鈥淧eople are going to still go. They鈥檙e going to chance it,鈥� Childress said, adding that she has actually never been approached by police or school administrators when taking her three children to play at 驶Aikahi Elementary鈥檚 playground on the weekends.

Limited Outdoor Options

Some lawmakers and county leaders have argued that the solution to improving campus safety and community well-being is more public access to schools, not less.

 proposed a four-year pilot program that would have required schools to make their outdoor facilities available for public use on the weekends without fees or permitting applications. It required schools to post signs notifying visitors that the DOE is not responsible for injuries that occur on the weekends.

While DOE already  for vetting public requests to use their campuses, the approval process can be inconsistent across schools, the bill said,  on the issue. Community members also need to have insurance and pay hourly fees covering the costs of utilities, custodial staff and facility rentals.

鈥淭he current system for granting access is highly principal-driven, discretionary, and inconsistent across campuses,鈥� the bill said. The measure died in the House Education Committee. 

 can range from $2 for an unlit parking lot to more than $230 for a large, air-conditioned auditorium. Renting a school playfield costs $5 an hour, according to the DOE. 

Opening up campuses to the public for free would remove the bureaucracy communities currently face when trying to access schools, La Chica said, adding that city parks are often overcrowded with sports leagues鈥� practices and games. 

But Minakami said the application process for facilities ensures that outside activities aren鈥檛 overlapping with school events while helping schools hold people accountable if they damage facilities or bring tobacco or alcohol on campus. 

DOE leaders raised similar concerns in their testimony against that bill, arguing that allowing public use of playgrounds and fields could lead to costly repairs. Schools have faced significant damage to their campuses, including vandalism at 驶Aikahi Elementary鈥檚 playground in 2021 and a fire intentionally set at  in 2023. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 like managing a park,鈥� said Deputy Superintendent Jesse Souki in a recent legislative hearing about the bill. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a huge amount of energy and resources.鈥� 

La Chica said opening campuses to the public could in fact encourage community members to take better care of campuses. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 always going to be risk attached to it, but if we open spaces for families, for youth, for neighbors to use responsibly, I feel like we see the opposite of vandalism,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen the community feels that a space belongs to them, they take care of it.鈥�

More than 20 years ago, state leaders advocated for a similar change 鈥� and found a solution at Farrington High School. 

A pilot program in 2005 allowed the City and County of Honolulu to run free exercise programs on Farrington High School鈥檚 campus several times a week, inviting students and community members to take free classes such as volleyball, hula and aerobics. 

Under the agreement between the city and DOE, the Kalihi campus was open for community activities after school as well as Saturday mornings. The city provided staff to run the classes, while the school offered the recreational space at no charge. During the pilot, the school did not report any cases of vandalism, Department of Health Administrator Lola Irvin said in a recent legislative hearing. 

Researchers at the University of Hawai驶i labeled the , with more than 80% of participants reporting they found a safe space to exercise during the pilot and increased their physical activity. But the initiative was short-lived after funding for the city鈥檚 exercise classes ran out. 

The Honolulu parks department and DOE have not entered any similar partnerships since the Farrington pilot, although city leaders have pushed for more cooperation between the agencies in recent years. Earlier this year, lawmakers  on behalf of the Hawai驶i State Association of Counties asking DOE to open its outdoor campus facilities to the public when classes aren鈥檛 in session.

Those resolutions have not yet been scheduled for hearings in the House or Senate.

Childress, a mom of three, remains skeptical that state and county agencies will be able to come to an agreement in the near future.  

鈥淚f they could get some kind of agreement on paper and expand access to playgrounds on weekends or off school hours, that would be amazing,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hen we wouldn鈥檛 have to jump a fence.鈥� 

From where the leaders of the Senate Education Committee sit, one thing seems clear: The Hawai鈥榠 public school system is broken. 

鈥淭alk to the people that are on the ground,鈥� Sen. Samantha DeCorte told heads of the Board of Education and education department during a heated January briefing. 鈥淎ccording to my community, you guys are failing.鈥�

Lawmakers have become increasingly critical of the DOE since Sen. Donna Kim took charge of the education committee this session. At the January hearing, lawmakers berated the school leaders for millions in school construction funding that remained unspent. In recent months, senators have grilled the department on poor student literacy rates and failure to properly report millions in travel expenses.  

The rising animosity between lawmakers and school leaders has drawn criticism from union leaders and taken some political observers by surprise. But lawmakers鈥� belief that schools aren鈥檛 meeting students鈥� needs seems to be striking a chord with their communities. An  by DeCorte asking 鈥淚s DOE failing?鈥� sparked thousands of comments and gained more than 20,000 likes from frustrated teachers, parents and the general public. 

Now, lawmakers are proposing a dramatic 鈥� but unlikely 鈥� reform of the education department.  aims to reshape the DOE by overhauling its current leadership structure and giving more power to school-level committees responsible for soliciting feedback from families and community members.

The bill drew opposition from roughly 200 principals, education department administrators and union leaders earlier this month, who argued that cutting top superintendent positions would reduce support for schools and destabilize the department. Debate on the bill was punctuated by yells and boos outside the hearing room, which Kim later blamed on principals and described as .   

The head of the Hawai驶i Government Employees Association 鈥� the union representing 1,200 school workers, including principals 鈥� has called the bill a political ploy allowing lawmakers to settle grudges with principals in their districts and push out school leaders with whom they disagree. 

Kim, meanwhile, acknowledges the bill may not pass in its current form. But she says the proposal comes from high community demand for educational reform and frustrations with DOE鈥檚 leadership system, which has  even as student enrollment shrinks. 

State leaders have debated the merits of a statewide school district for generations and have repeatedly argued department leadership is too centralized. But it鈥檚 been more than two decades since the last major shakeup to the state system, and some families and community members say change is long overdue.

鈥淭here鈥檚 real problems going on,鈥� Kim said. 鈥淯ntil we face it straight on, we鈥檙e not going to be able to deal with it.鈥� 

Looking Back

More than 20 years ago, lawmakers and school leaders were grappling with the same questions of how to reform public schools amid arguments that DOE leadership was too O驶ahu-centric and failing to serve its students and families. 

In her 2003 state of the state address, former Gov. Linda Lingle argued that the education department was losing families to private schools and called for the statewide school system to be replaced by multiple districts and school boards that would give communities more power at their local campuses. 

鈥淭he public knows and we should not be afraid to say it,鈥� Lingle said, 鈥淗awaii鈥檚 public school system is broken.鈥�

While the state never went as far as creating multiple school districts, lawmakers passed a comprehensive bill the following year that promised to reform public education. Act 51 changed school funding models, gave principals more training and authority over their budgets and created community councils that gave families and staff a direct say in how local campuses were run. 

It took more than a year to write and finalize the bill, since lawmakers wanted the input and support of school staff, families and unions, said Roy Takumi, who  as former chair of the House Education Committee. While the bill gave schools more control over their budgets, lawmakers wanted to make sure principals and community members had enough support to successfully take on these new responsibilities, said Takumi, who currently serves as chair of the Board of Education.  

Kim said her bill is strengthening some of the reforms introduced by Act 51 by giving more power to schools and making top administrators accountable to their communities.

The bill would eliminate the department鈥檚 complex area superintendents, who are in charge of overseeing schools and principals in 15 regions, and replace these positions with district-level leaders. The proposal would strengthen accountability for school leaders, Kim said, since district superintendents could report directly to Superintendent Keith Hayashi.  

The bill would also give more power to school community councils, which are supposed to give teachers, parents and community members a direct say in their schools鈥� operations. While the councils currently provide some input in the evaluation and hiring of principals, the bill would make their feedback account for half of the principal selection process.

鈥淭his is not just overnight,鈥� Kim said, adding that teachers and parents have repeatedly called her with concerns about their local schools and frustrations with top leadership. 鈥淭hose are the things that I鈥檓 trying to be responsive of.鈥� 

Possible Disruptions

But opponents of the bill say there are key differences between Kim鈥檚 bill and Act 51. The principals鈥� union and DOE administrators said they were not meaningfully consulted before Kim introduced the bill, and it鈥檚 unclear if the proposal will achieve its goal of empowering schools with a lack of buy-in from principals. 

At Mauka Lani Elementary School in Makakilo, Principal Neil Battad said complex area superintendents serve as principals鈥� first point of contact during emergencies and manage issues that affect multiple schools, such as redistricting plans and enrollment projections affected by new housing developments.

Cutting these superintendent positions may require principals to take on more responsibilities than usual, he said, reducing their capacity to support their schools. 

The current version of the bill proposes replacing the 15 complex area superintendents with district and deputy district superintendents. While the bill doesn鈥檛 specify how many districts would replace the current complex area structure, in the early 2000s, DOE had seven districts managed by 14 superintendents.

If the bill returned the department to its original leadership structure, there would be few changes in the total number of top officials, but each superintendent would be in charge of more schools, Hayashi said. For example, the Leeward District superintendent could be in charge of more than 40 schools stretching from Kapolei to Waipahu to Wai驶anae, he said, even though these campuses have unique needs and serve distinct communities.  

The current leadership structure and reforms established under Act 51 has worked for Hawai驶i schools, Hayashi said, pointing to the state鈥檚 improved ranking on national math and reading assessments over the past 20 years. While there is always room for improvement, he said, major leadership disruptions could impede schools鈥� progress. 

鈥淭here have been gains over time, and I fully expect those gains will continue under the system that we have,鈥� Hayashi said. 

Following the strong opposition earlier this month, Kim said she鈥檚 open to revising the bill to place a cap on the total number of school superintendents, rather than eliminating the 15 complex area leaders completely. While she鈥檚 still not sure what the cap should be, Kim said, she doesn鈥檛 want the education department鈥檚 leadership ranks to continue to grow without explanation.

Last spring, the department created a  position to oversee school meals, transportation and campus security. In 2022, the department added  to its leadership ranks, despite strong public pushback and concerns about the lack of transparency in the hiring process. 

The bill is scheduled for decision making in the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday. Already, the bill received more than  of testimony in advance of the hearing, with many principals writing in to oppose the measure.  

Support For Change

In Kalihi, community member and grandparent Lynette Kumalae said she feels a growing sense of frustration from her children and neighbors who send their kids to public schools across the state. Families don鈥檛 feel supported or seen by school administrators, she said, when long-standing problems like bullying in schools go unaddressed.

The bill鈥檚 proposal to give school community councils a greater say in the hiring of principals is a good start, she said. Currently, councils may have limited input on campuses鈥� academic or financial plans, and requiring them to play a larger role in the principal selection process ensures that schools are hiring leaders who will have strong relationships with families, said Kumalae, who serves on Ka驶ewai Elementary School鈥檚 council. 

But some educational advocates say shifting more responsibility to school community councils isn鈥檛 the answer, although they support greater investments in community outreach and family support. 

Often, families are not aware of school community councils or how to participate, said Deborah Bond-Upson, president of Parents for Public Schools Hawai驶i. Some schools have no webpages with current council information, she said, while others haven鈥檛 posted their meeting minutes for years. 

Families have legitimate frustrations with the school system and the challenges of communicating with administrators and teachers, Bond-Upson said. But a bill to rework the education department鈥檚 top leadership structure isn鈥檛 addressing key needs in areas like mental health or support for students with disabilities, she said. 

鈥淚t just seems like a real misuse of energy and funds,鈥� she said. 

The principals鈥� union has also opposed the bill鈥檚 proposal to give school community councils a greater say in the hiring process, arguing the change would need to go through negotiations with the union. 

With strong opposition mounting against the bill, it seems unlikely the proposal will pass, said Colin Moore, a political scientist at the University of Hawai驶i M膩noa. But it could be a politically popular move for Kim to push for more community involvement in schools, he said, noting that the senator is up for re-election later this year. 

Even still, he said, it was unusual for Kim to rebuke principals on the Senate floor last week after they booed and cheered during the bill鈥檚 hearing. Principals are well-known community figures, he said, and publicly criticizing them sparked the ire of their union.

鈥淲hat anyone is trying to accomplish with this is a little uncertain,鈥� Moore said. 

Often, bills don鈥檛 pass on their first try, Kim said, but she hopes her proposal will spark more discussions and reflection from the DOE moving forward.

鈥淭his is sort of to light a fire under them, to get them to recognize there are issues, there are concerns,鈥� she said. 

Parent Jessica Wright said she believes the department needs major reform to better support teachers and students. Before she pulled her son out of DOE schools in 2021, she said, she saw little outreach to families or opportunities to participate on the school community council. 

But the bill doesn鈥檛 seem to address parents鈥� main concerns with the public education system, said Wright, who currently homeschools her son. Rather than restructuring top leadership positions in the department, Wright said, she would like to see more investments in mental health resources in schools or staff positions that specialize in community outreach and support for families. 

鈥淚 feel like it鈥檚 just like anything that we do, we just put a band-aid on it,鈥� Wright said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 get to the root of the problem.鈥� 

.

Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

Anton Avanozian loves teaching at Baldwin High School on Maui, taking pride in his efforts to grow the science department and support activities like the student science fair. But despite his satisfactory job evaluations and the state鈥檚 teacher shortage, he鈥檚 worried about losing his position after next year. 

Avanozian has an emergency hire permit, which allows people with a bachelor鈥檚 degree but no teacher鈥檚 license to work in classrooms for up to three years while they take the courses and tests needed to earn a credential. While he expects to complete his program before the deadline next summer, it鈥檚 still challenging to balance a full-time job and a few hours of coursework every day, he said. 

鈥淚鈥檓 applying a lot of pressure on myself to get it done,鈥� Avanozian said. 鈥淚鈥檓 really pushing towards it, but I do have that worry in the back of my mind, what if it doesn鈥檛 work out?鈥�

Hawai驶i public schools are undergoing a dramatic transformation in who鈥檚 filling classroom positions and teaching students. This year, the Department of Education employed roughly 1,000 emergency hires 鈥� around 8% of the overall teacher workforce and more than double the number from four years ago. In some parts of the state, emergency hires make up more than 15% of the teaching staff. 

As reliance on emergency hires has grown, so too has concern over losing workers who can鈥檛 earn a license in three years.

A  that would allow emergency hires to work in schools for five years is now sparking debate around the role unlicensed teachers should play in Hawai驶i classrooms. Emergency hires are becoming too entrenched in the school system, some lawmakers and the teacher licensing board argue, reducing the quality of education and disadvantaging students in rural and neighbor island schools, which have a greater reliance on unlicensed teachers.  

The education department鈥檚 stance is that giving emergency hires more time to earn their licenses is a better option than losing educators after a few years and relying on long-term substitutes, though the department has failed to provide lawmakers with any data on how many teachers need this assistance. Unlike emergency hires, substitute teachers aren鈥檛 required to have a college degree or work toward licensure. 

The proposal also moves Hawai驶i in the opposite direction of states like Texas that are trying to phase out emergency hires and put more constraints on what subjects unlicensed educators can teach in schools.   

鈥淢y concern is that we鈥檙e accepting them as an integral part of the workforce for teachers,鈥� said Rep. Andrew Garrett, who introduced  at DOE鈥檚 request. 鈥淚 just want to make sure that we don鈥檛 get too reliant on this.鈥� 

How Long Is Too Long?

Extending emergency hire permits from three to five years could impact hundreds of teachers who are working toward their licenses and may need to leave public schools in the near future if they aren鈥檛 successful, DOE Deputy Superintendent Tammi Oyadomari-Chun said in the hearing last week. Roughly 150 to 200 teachers are currently in their third year as emergency hires, she said, meaning they need to earn their license by the end of this school year in order to remain with the DOE. 

When lawmakers pushed school officials for more details, the department was unable to provide data on how many emergency hires receive their licenses in three years or how long employees would ideally need to finish a licensing program. The teacher standards board also doesn鈥檛 have easily accessible data on how many licenses are awarded to emergency hires in their third year, since licenses are granted on a case-by-case basis, board chair Kristi Miyamae said. 

鈥淢oving beyond the three years is important,鈥� Oyadomari-Chun said. 鈥淏ut whether it鈥檚 five or 10 is the magic number, there鈥檚 no data to back up that choice.鈥�

Studies from other states that loosened their teaching requirements during the pandemic show that emergency hires tend to be less effective than licensed educators. In Texas, students who were taught high school math by an unlicensed educator received the equivalent of nearly five months of instruction compared to a full nine months from a licensed teacher, according to a  from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Emergency hires tend to face the greatest challenges in their early years in the classroom and experience greater turnover than licensed teachers, said Michael Marder, who authored the UT Austin report. In turn, he said, schools relying on emergency hires may struggle even more with teacher retention if they鈥檙e forced to hire long-term subs and more unlicensed teachers to fill positions. 

Some lawmakers are concerned that schools in rural or low-income communities are more likely to rely on emergency hires, exacerbating educational inequalities. In the 2023-24 academic year, L膩na驶i employed the greatest number of unlicensed teachers, followed by the K奴lanih膩ko驶i and Wai驶anae complexes. 

But giving emergency hires more time to earn their licenses is a better alternative than losing teachers after their third year in schools, Chun said. To ensure the quality of emergency hires, she said, the department regularly checks that teachers are making progress toward their licenses and pairs them with more experienced teachers to receive mentorship. 

While teacher preparation programs typically last from 18 months to two years, it鈥檚 not a guarantee that emergency hires will complete their coursework in that time frame, said Diane Gibson, an instruction and professional development specialist with the Hawai驶i State Teachers Association. Not all licensing programs are designed to accommodate teachers with full-time jobs, she said, and emergency hires also have families and other responsibilities taking up their time outside of the school day. 

The state standards board has paused work on vetting and approving additional mainland programs that offer teacher licenses to ensure the quality of the 14 programs currently authorized 鈥� most of which are offered through Hawai驶i universities. But some outside programs currently excluded from Hawai驶i鈥檚 approved licensing pathways offer more online or affordable options that could fit the needs of emergency hires, Gibson said.  

At Ke鈥檈lik艒lani Middle School in Honolulu, teacher Nathan Sellner said he saw an improvement in his students鈥� learning last fall when he took over a science position that was previously filled by substitutes. Last year, nearly a third of eighth graders at the school scored proficient in science, up from 21% the previous two years. 

鈥淚 think it really is important that students have a qualified teacher as soon as possible,鈥� said Sellner, who started as an emergency hire and earned his teacher license halfway through last year.  

Sourcing Internationally 

At L膩na驶i High and Elementary School, emergency hires make up nearly a third of teaching staff, Principal Douglas Boyer said. Many of the school鈥檚 emergency hires are international teachers who have classroom experience and licenses 鈥� just not a Hawai驶i-specific license.

DOE has increasingly relied on international teachers to fill positions in such hard-to-staff, rural schools. This year, the department employed more than 300 international teachers, who work as emergency hires until they can receive a Hawai驶i license. 

The influx of international teachers has allowed L膩na驶i High and Elementary to offer more classes such as choir and physical education, Boyer said, and has prevented the school from relying on vice principals or long-term substitutes to fill vacant positions.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really allowed us to create that consistency for our students and to give our students a lot of offerings,鈥� Boyer said. 

Most international teachers are brought here on a visa that is valid for up to five years, though they can鈥檛 stay for the full term if they don鈥檛 earn a local teaching license in the first three years. 

It can be costly for teachers to pass their licensing exams, said Sen. Troy Hashimoto, and not all international hires want to invest the time and money into these tests if they鈥檙e not able to work long-term in schools. 

Hashimoto has  that would require the teacher standards board to develop a teaching permit to allow international hires to work in Hawai驶i schools for the full five years of their visa. While the standards board could determine the specific requirements for the permit, Hashimoto said he would like to see alternative ways to evaluate international teachers鈥� qualifications to work in schools, rather than relying on costly licensing programs and exams. 

Even still, he said, an extended permit 鈥� for international teachers or local emergency hires 鈥� isn鈥檛 a permanent solution for the state鈥檚 teacher shortage. Moving forward, he said, he would like to see the standards board and Hawai驶i universities find more ways to attract local candidates and retain teachers in public schools. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 trying to help us to bridge the gap,鈥� Hashimoto said. 鈥淚 think we cannot believe that this is a permanent fix.鈥� 

This was originally published on .

Hawai驶i is expected to see the greatest decline in high school graduates in the nation over the next several years, raising concerns from lawmakers and Department of Education officials about the future of small schools in shrinking communities.

Between 2023 and 2041, Hawai驶i could see a 33% drop in the number of students graduating from high school, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. The nation as a whole is projected to see a 10% drop in graduates, according to the commission鈥檚 , published at the end of 2024.

In 2041, public schools in the state are expected to award diplomas to just over 7,600 students, down from roughly 11,500 in 2023. Private schools are expected to see a similar drop in their graduating senior classes over the same time frame.

Already, the education department has seen its enrollment drop by nearly 12% over the past decade, with school leaders citing the state鈥檚 declining birth rate and the number of families leaving Hawai驶i in recent years.

Last year, the department discussed the possibility of , with some lawmakers and school leaders arguing that it was financially unsustainable to keep small campuses open. But the department changed course last fall, proposing a  to avoid closures.

Closing schools is a controversial and slow process. The department hasn鈥檛 closed a school since 2011, when it received strong pushback from families and community members around its decision to shutter Queen Lili驶uokalani Elementary School in Kaimuk墨.

Now, some lawmakers want to force the department to take swifter action.  introduced last week by Sen. Troy Hashimoto would establish an independent commission to review school facilities and recommend the consolidation, closure or realignment of schools.

鈥淒ecades of enrollment growth led to the construction of new campuses, but the recent and continuing decline in student numbers has left many facilities underutilized,鈥� the bill states, adding that Hawai驶i is facing more financial constraints amid possible federal cuts.

The bill requires the commission to submit its findings to the Legislature and the governor by fall 2027. If lawmakers and the governor approve the findings, DOE would be required to implement the commission鈥檚 recommendations following the 2028 legislative session.

Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy, and 鈥淒ata Dive鈥� is supported in part by the Will J. Reid Foundation.

At a time when local schools are facing shrinking enrollment and talks of closure, Hawaiian immersion programs are bucking the trend. 

Enrollment in schools that teach primarily in 驶艒lelo Hawai驶i 鈥� collectively known as Kaiapuni schools 鈥� has increased by 68% over the past decade, with the number of campuses run by the state education department growing from 14 to 26. But students tend to have fewer immersion options in middle and high school, and the pool of qualified teachers isn鈥檛 keeping up with families鈥� growing demand.

Recruiting qualified teachers is one of the largest barriers to expanding Kaiapuni programs, Office of Hawaiian Education Director Kau鈥榠 Sang said in a recent education board meeting. The Department of Education needs to find a balance between adding more classrooms to meet families鈥� needs and hiring enough teachers to support existing Kaiapuni schools, she said. 

DOE plans on opening two new Kaiapuni programs at Hale驶iwa Elementary on O驶ahu and Kalaniana驶ole Elementary on the Big Island.

鈥淲e cannot open classrooms unless we have qualified staff,鈥� Sang said. 

Currently, DOE has three unfilled Kaiapuni teacher positions, Communications Director Nanea Ching said in an emailed statement. The department also employs 25 unlicensed Kaiapuni educators who still need to fulfill their teacher training requirements, she said. 

But the number of additional teachers needed to fully staff Kaiapuni schools could be closer to 100, said Kananinohea M膩ka驶imoku, an associate professor at the University of Hawai驶i Hilo鈥檚 College of Hawaiian Language. Some Kaiapuni teachers are taking on larger-than-average class sizes because of staffing shortages, she said, meaning the annual vacancy rates underestimate the number of educators schools need. 

DOE will need 165 more Kaiapuni teachers in the next decade to fully staff its classrooms and meet families鈥� growing demand, according to 驶Aha Kauleo, an advisory group of Hawaiian language schools and organizations. The projection doesn鈥檛 account for a large group of teachers who are expected to retire in the coming years, M膩ka驶imoku said.

Last year, UH M膩noa and Hilo produced a total of 12 licensed Kaiapuni teachers.

It鈥檚 difficult to find candidates who are both fluent in Hawaiian and interested in teaching, M膩ka驶imoku said, especially because Hawaiian language speakers are in high demand in many careers. But a lack of teachers doesn鈥檛 mean schools should stop expanding Kaiapuni programs, she said, especially when the movement has so much family support and momentum. 

鈥楴o Option But To Leave Their Home District鈥�

The Hawai驶i Supreme Court has  that the education department has a constitutional duty to provide families with access to Hawaiian immersion education. Two lawsuits  argued that DOE has fallen short of this responsibility by creating unique barriers for immersion families, such as waitlists for enrollment and limited immersion programs in some school districts.

One of the lawsuits was dropped over the summer, but the second remains active. 

Currently, families are pushing for more immersion options in Pearl City, which has no middle or high school for Kaiapuni students. Children can attend the Kaiapuni program at Waiau Elementary until the sixth grade but then need to transfer to immersion programs in Kapolei or Honolulu for middle school or switch to an English-language program.

 to add Kaiapuni programs at Highlands Intermediate and Pearl City High School received more than 100 signatures over the past three weeks. 

鈥淥ur keiki start their educational journey in Hawaiian immersion programs, but upon reaching intermediate and high school levels, they find themselves with no option but to leave their home district,鈥� parent Chloe Pua驶ena Vierra-Villanueva said in written testimony to the Board of Education.

The department is planning to add more grade levels to existing Kaiapuni schools next year and provide families with more information on how to enroll in immersion programs, Sang said. Her office also plans on tracking the number of open seats and waitlists across the state to determine which communities have the greatest demand for Kaiapuni classrooms. 

Since 2020, the state has also offered a $8,000 salary bonus to Kaiapuni teachers to attract more people to classroom positions. 

Kahea Faria, an assistant specialist at UH M膩noa鈥檚 College of Education and a Kaiapuni parent, said she would like to see more DOE campuses solely dedicated to serving immersion students across all grade levels. Creating environments where Hawaiian is the only spoken language is critical to students鈥� development, she said, and could possibly encourage more kids to pursue teaching careers in Kaiapuni schools. 

鈥淩ight now, with a growing number of students, they have very limited opportunities to grow their language abilities,鈥� Faria said. 

The state also needs to look beyond Kaiapuni graduates to expand the potential pool of immersion teachers, M膩ka驶imoku said. For example, she said, offering more Hawaiian language classes to families and community members could encourage more people to earn their Kaiapuni teaching credentials. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 definitely a conversation that all communities in Hawai驶i should have,鈥� she said. 

This story was originally published on Honolulu Civil Beat.

The Department of Education is hiring fewer teachers and seeing an uptick in unlicensed educators in its schools, according to a recent  for the 2024-25 academic year. 

Last year, roughly 48% of newly hired Hawai驶i educators did not have a teacher鈥檚 license, a significant jump from the 27% of new teachers who didn鈥檛 have one in the 2020-21 academic year. The numbers include those who have completed an educator preparation program but have not yet earned a state teaching license. 

The number of unlicensed educators, also known as emergency hires, has steadily increased since the pandemic, partly due to the recent increase in pay for these workers. The state also has programs in place to help emergency hires earn their license while teaching.

This fall, DOE reported the lowest number of  in five years, largely due to the uptick in emergency hires filling open positions. Emergency hires can work in schools for up to three years while they make progress toward earning a license. 

The department hired 1,300 teachers last year, down from more than 1,600 the year before that. Of those teachers, 82% were Hawai驶i residents 鈥� the largest percentage of resident hires DOE has seen in the past four years.

Fewer teachers also left Hawai驶i schools last year, with 1,116 retiring or resigning from their jobs, down from roughly 1,200 the year before. Most commonly, teachers said they left their jobs because they planned to move out of Hawai驶i. 

The state has introduced more initiatives to improve teacher retention in recent years, including bonuses for educators working in hard-to-staff positions and increasing teacher pay. 

During Thursday鈥檚 Board of Education meeting, Assistant Superintendent Sean Bacon said the DOE is continuing to work on recruiting local teachers. For example, he said, schools are developing more career pathways for high school students interested in becoming teachers or educational assistants after they graduate. 

Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy and 鈥淒ata Dive鈥� is supported in part by the Will J. Reid Foundation.

Since 2020, the Hawai驶i education department has offered the largest bonuses in the nation to special education teachers to address staff shortages. But the state has seen limited improvements in filling special education teacher positions, according to recent data from the department and the National Council on Teacher Quality.

The Hawai驶i Department of Education introduced bonuses 鈥� also known as pay differentials 鈥� for teachers working in special education and other hard-to-fill positions in 2020. It鈥檚 a strategy that has become popular in other parts of the country. In 2025, 85 districts offered financial incentives for special education teachers, up from 63 in 2022, according to a .

Hawai驶i continues to offer the largest bonuses to its special education teachers, with local educators receiving $10,000 annual salary increases. On the mainland, Atlanta Public Schools in Georgia provides a $3,000 bonus to special education teachers, while Jackson Public Schools in Mississippi offers $5,000 pay bumps over three years, according to the national report.

In some parts of Hawai驶i, special education teachers also qualify for hard-to-staff bonuses, further boosting their pay. All Hawai驶i educators working in schools that are geographically isolated or significantly struggle with vacancies receive pay bumps ranging from $3,000 to $8,000, meaning that special education teachers in these schools can earn up to $13,000 to $18,000 in annual bonuses.

But a  on teacher pay commissioned by the DOE shows the bonuses did not fix the shortage. Statewide, the percentage of licensed special education teachers has increased since the bonuses began, but schools still face many unfilled positions.

Vacancy rates for special education teachers fell in 2020, the first year the bonuses were introduced, then rose steadily during the pandemic. Those rates have since improved but remain roughly at or above pre-pandemic levels for most schools in the state.

The only improvements to special education vacancies were in the N膩n膩kuli-Wai驶anae and H膩na-L膩na驶i-Molokai complexes, where teachers earned the maximum $18,000 annual salary boost. In those schools, vacancy rates for special education teachers fell from 14% to 5% over the past seven years.

The proportion of unlicensed special education teachers in those schools also fell from 14% to 6% since 2019, according to the salary study.

Statewide, special education vacancies have made up a smaller proportion of unfilled teacher positions since the bonuses began. In 2024, special education positions accounted for 20% of total teacher vacancies, compared to 30% before the pandemic. 

The number of bus drivers serving Hawai驶i schools has reached its highest point in four years, but the Department of Education is still falling short of meeting families鈥� transportation needs.

This year, 545 bus drivers are serving Hawai驶i schools, up from 436 last fall, from the DOE. The department is still short 130 drivers, who are primarily provided through the bus companies Ground Transport Inc. and Roberts Hawai驶i.

The department sparked widespread criticism from parents and lawmakers last August when it  over 100 bus routes for students days before the new school year. To avoid severe shortages this year, DOE consolidated some bus routes with low ridership and launched a new carpooling initiative for parents, according to a recent memo from Deputy Superintendent Jesse Souki. 

Last year, nearly half of Hawai驶i students didn鈥檛 qualify for bus transportation because they lived within walking distance to their local schools or received a geographic exception to attend a campus outside of their neighborhood. This fall, nearly 13% of students rely on the bus services available to regular education students, down from roughly 16% in the . 

Special education students receive their own bus services that are required under federal law. 

Demand for bus drivers has fallen over the past two years, with DOE contracting for 694 drivers in 2023, compared to 675 this fall. Bus companies were better able to keep up with DOE鈥檚 demands before the Covid-19 pandemic, and the state was only short 28 drivers in 2019.

Despite the decline in DOE鈥檚 need for drivers, the costs of transporting kids has increased over the past several years. Last school year, the department spent a total of $76 million in state and federal funds on student transportation, compared to $60 million in 2022.

To reduce families鈥� reliance on buses, the department has offered  to middle and high school students on O驶ahu and Kaua驶i. In the first quarter of the school year, roughly 6,200 O驶ahu students and 99 Kaua驶i students took advantage of the bus passes, according to the DOE, with the majority of participants from O驶ahu schools.

Maui and Hawai驶i County already offer free bus services to students.

This fall, DOE also introduced a carpool pilot program, which allows parents in the Mililani and Kekaulike complexes to connect with nearby families who can transport their kids between school and home.

Only 3% of families in the complexes have registered for the program, according to the DOE.

The department will give more updates on student transportation during Thursday鈥檚 Board of Education meeting.

At 7:45 am on a recent Friday, Fern Elementary鈥檚 cafeteria exploded with shouts and cheers as school counselor Talon Henderson called students to the front of the room. The students, selected at random, received small prizes as rewards for showing up to school on time 鈥� a small but important reason to celebrate, Henderson said. 

鈥淩emember to come to school every day,鈥� Henderson told students enthusiastically as he dismissed them for the first class of the day. 

The five-minute game, which Fern Elementary holds once or twice a week, is one of many strategies Hawai驶i schools have pursued to improve attendance in recent years. Other solutions range from raffling PlayStations and televisions to students with perfect attendance to offering health screenings on campus and holding home visits with families to figure out why kids are missing class.

Some schools, like Fern Elementary, have made significant progress as a result. Last year, 77% of students at the Kalihi campus attended class regularly, up from just 45% in the 2021-22 school year.

But not all schools have seen the same success. Statewide, nearly a quarter of kids were chronically absent last year and 10 schools reported that half or more of their students weren鈥檛 attending class regularly. Those figures are an improvement from the height of the pandemic, when more than a third of kids were chronically absent, but are still far from ideal. 

Students who are chronically absent 鈥� defined as missing 10% or more of instructional days 鈥� tend to have lower graduation rates and worse math and reading scores than their peers, according to a  from the department, adding to the urgency of addressing the problem.

There鈥檚 no single reason for the high absenteeism rates, though principals and teachers say stricter health policies during the pandemic could have more parents keeping kids home when they have minor illnesses. Schools have also seen an increase in students struggling with mental health. One thing is clear: schools are about to have less support in their efforts to address the problem. 

Last fall, millions of dollars of Covid-relief funding for attendance initiatives expired, and recent legislative efforts to direct state funding to successful school programs have failed to pass. While principals have largely been tasked with developing school-specific strategies to deal with the problem, some parents and advocates say they would like the education department to streamline its communication and outreach to families moving forward.

Others say they would like more comprehensive support for parents, who may not be able to prioritize school attendance when they鈥檙e juggling multiple jobs and responsibilities. 

鈥淚 think a lot of times we like to blame the families,鈥� said Kathleen O鈥橠ell, coordinator of the Hawai驶i 驶Ohana Support Network, 鈥渂ut you don鈥檛 know what families are going through.鈥�  

Where Did The Kids Go? 

As schools returned to in-person learning after months of online classes during the pandemic, some kids didn鈥檛 seem to understand the value of attendance, said Lahainaluna High School teacher Jarrett Chapin. In some cases, he said, students would show up to get counted at the start of class and attempt to leave before he started his lesson. 

鈥淚t was jarring, for sure,鈥� Chapin said, adding that the school has seen more success with attendance since it adopted a new communication app allowing teachers to directly message families. Last year, 36% of Lahainaluna students were chronically absent, down from around 45% in 2021.  

DOE defines chronic absenteeism as missing 18 days of school for any reason, including excused absences like illness or a death in the family. 

Schools can refer students and parents to Family Court when a child is considered truant and has more than 18 unexcused absences, according to . But schools try to avoid punitive approaches to attendance whenever possible, Honouliuli Middle School Principal Todd Fujimori said. 

At Honouliuli Middle, counselors and teachers work with students to improve their attendance, he said, and the school partners with the judiciary to meet with parents before they鈥檙e referred to Family Court. In some cases, an attendance officer from the judiciary meets with families to develop plans and strategies to improve kids鈥� absenteeism rates.

鈥淚t鈥檚 to try to be proactive,鈥� Fujimori said, adding that the school has only referred families to truancy court once or twice over the past six years. 

Families also became accustomed to keeping their kids home when they had mild illnesses during the pandemic, which began in March 2020, since schools were quick to send students with Covid-like symptoms home, said Hannah Loyola, principal at Kohala Elementary on the Big Island. Some families are still hesitant to send their kids to class when they aren鈥檛 feeling well, even though the school has eased its health policies in recent years. 

鈥淎fter the restrictions lightened up a little bit, I don鈥檛 think parents fully understood,鈥� Loyola said. 

It鈥檚 also been harder for parents to motivate kids to attend school since the pandemic, O鈥橠ell said. Some students developed more social anxiety during online learning, while others had fewer opportunities to develop basic learning skills that could help them adjust to in-person classes.  

When schools first reopened after the pandemic, some principals reported an  and aggressive behavior as students struggled with their mental health and a lack of social skills needed to resolve disagreements.

Families are also struggling to feel a strong sense of belonging on campus after many schools were closed to the public for more than a year during the pandemic, O鈥橠ell said. In some cases, schools don鈥檛 call parents unless their kids are in trouble, she said, making it harder for families to develop trusting relationships with teachers and feel comfortable sharing the challenges keeping their children from attending class.

鈥淎 lot of families don鈥檛 feel very welcomed on the campus,鈥� O鈥橠ell said. 鈥淪o how are we proactively creating relationships with our families and getting to know their needs?鈥� 

Strategies Abound 

In the 2024-25 academic year, nearly 75% of Kohala Elementary鈥檚 students attended class regularly 鈥� a 12% jump from the previous year and a 24% increase from when the school first returned to in-person learning in 2021. 

Last year, Kohala Elementary offered free pizza coupons or field trips to reward students with good attendance, said Vice Principal Allison Tinnin, and administrators scheduled calls and home visits to families if children began missing school early on. 

Kohala Elementary is also part of the state鈥檚 network of , which offer comprehensive support to families in the form of food pantries, after-school tutoring and more. By addressing families鈥� basic needs, these schools can help improve student attendance, said Paula Adams, executive director of Hawai驶i Afterschool Alliance. 

Several community schools reported some of the greatest improvements in attendance rates in the state last year.

鈥淭he results are very, very clear,鈥� Adams said. 

But right now, many principals need to find their own sources of funding to cover the costs of becoming a community school, including hiring a coordinator to manage partnerships with local organizations and developing close connections with families. Running a community school costs around $120,000 a year, Adams said. 

While the initiative has seen success on Big Island and O驶ahu, it has yet to reach schools on Maui and Kaua驶i, partly because not all principals are familiar with community schools, Adams said. introduced in the last legislative session would have set aside nearly $4 million to fund community schools and hire a statewide program manager over the next two years, but the measure failed to pass. 

In other cases, DOE has developed partnerships with outside agencies to address barriers to attendance. The Hawai驶i Keiki initiative, run in partnership with the University of Hawai驶i M膩noa School of Nursing, places nurses in schools across the state to treat students鈥� illnesses and promote healthy habits for kids and families, aiming to reduce the amount of class time kids miss because of sickness. 

The program, which began in 2014, reduced absenteeism in high schools by up to 4% in its early years of implementation, . The study did not analyze the impact of the initiative on attendance after 2019. 

Funding is a significant barrier to expanding and scaling those initiatives moving forward. The DOE sought $160,000 earlier this year to hire an educational specialist who could support attendance initiatives statewide, but lawmakers didn鈥檛 fund the request. Another  in 2024 to fund 75 health technician positions in schools under the Hawai驶i Keiki Initiative also failed. 

Federal funding for Covid recovery in schools , including millions that had supported attendance initiatives.

Some schools now need to dip into their own budgets for attendance programs. At Fern Elementary, the school has been able to replace federal dollars with its own money to purchase rewards for students with good attendance, Vice Principal Mark Atta said, but maintaining attendance initiatives could be more challenging for schools with tighter budgets. 

Deborah Bond-Upson, president of the advocacy group Parents for Public Schools Hawai驶i and interim director of the Hui for Excellence in Education Coalition, said families are looking for ways to strengthen their connection with schools and get more involved in their children鈥檚 learning. Multiple communication platforms and apps make it harder for families to find information about their kids鈥� schools, she said, and providing a more streamlined source of data on student learning and outcomes could boost parent engagement.   

鈥淭he kids who see parents not really understanding what鈥檚 happening in school, not really feeling connected, that makes them feel disconnected,鈥� Bond-Upson said. 鈥淚f the parents are more connected, then it鈥檚 easier for the kids to feel comfortable in the school, open to it and move forward positively.鈥� 

Kristine Kaneichi enrolled her oldest son in Waik墨k墨 Community Preschool eight years ago, drawn to the center鈥檚 low cost, safe facilities and flexible hours that accommodated her schedule as a college student. 

She went on to send her two younger kids to the center. The youngest, now 3, is still a student there but, for the first time in years, Kaneichi doesn鈥檛 have to worry about paying tuition or applying for state tuition subsidies. 

Last month, Waik墨k墨 Community Preschool became the first program to make the transition from a private to charter school in Hawai驶i. As a result, the school reports to the State Public Charter School Commission, receives state funding 鈥� and is tuition-free.  

鈥淭his helps a lot,鈥� Kaneichi said. 

Waik墨k墨 Community Preschool is part of the state鈥檚 ongoing strategy to involve more charter schools in its ambitious goals to provide all 3- and 4-year-olds access to preschool by 2032. Charter schools currently operate 33 preschool classrooms in the state, including six at Waik墨k墨 Community Preschool, said Deanne Goya, who oversees early learning programs at the charter commission. 

The state opened an additional 26 preschool classrooms this fall on Department of Education campuses and plans to add around 25 more next year. Roughly 6,700 children don鈥檛 have access to preschool, meaning that Hawai驶i needs to open around 330 classrooms over the next seven years, according to . 

Preschool directors and advocates say charter preschools can help solve the state鈥檚 long-time shortage of early educators. Private preschools typically struggle to hire staff and increase teacher wages because they鈥檙e reliant on tuition payments and don鈥檛 want to raise the prices for parents, said Malia Tsuchiya, early childhood policy and advocacy coordinator at Hawai驶i Children鈥檚 Action Network. 

Converting private preschools to charters creates a steady source of state funding for providers and often ensures higher wages for teachers, making hard-to-fill jobs more attractive, Tsuchiya said. Teachers working for charter preschools are state employees and receive the same benefits and salaries of educators working in K-12 public schools. 

The current funding model makes it difficult for other programs to follow Waik墨k墨 Community Preschool鈥檚 lead, however. Charter preschools receive $171,000 in state funding per classroom, which Tsuchiya said falls short of what schools need to cover staff, rent, facilities and other expenses. Most charters run small preschool programs, she said, so it鈥檚 harder to spread the costs across multiple classrooms.

The Waik墨k墨 preschool is counting on its nonprofit partner, Waik墨k墨 Community Center, to help fundraise thousands of dollars to make up the shortfall of state funds this year.

A New Type of School

Waik墨k墨 Community Preschool always focused on serving low-income families, drawing parents who worked in the tourism industry and sometimes held multiple jobs, said Caroline Hayashi, president of the Waik墨k墨 Community Center. In recent years, the preschool charged low-income families around $500 a month but only after extensively fundraising to lower the costs. Families covering the full tuition paid around $990 a month. 

鈥淲e鈥檝e been really trying to do what we can as a nonprofit to help make quality early education affordable,鈥� Hayashi said. 鈥淲e have been successful, but always kind of struggling to subsidize.鈥� 

When the state started looking for private preschools interested in becoming charters, the center jumped at the opportunity, Hayashi said. The school wanted to be tuition-free, she said, and receiving state funding would alleviate some of the pressure of fundraising. 

In addition to eliminating tuition costs, becoming a charter school also allowed the center to operate at full capacity for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, Hayashi said. 

When it reopened after Covid, the school wasn鈥檛 able to staff one of its classrooms and could only serve 85 students. More educators seem willing to work for a charter preschool, Hayashi said, likely because they can receive the same pay as K-12 public school teachers with more flexible work schedules. 

Now, the school operates at its maximum capacity and is serving 98 kids this year, with a waitlist typically of between 10 and 30 students. 

Private preschools often struggle with staffing and increasing teacher pay because they don鈥檛 want to raise tuition for families. In 2021, preschool teachers in Hawai驶i earned an  of roughly $37,000. In comparison, licensed public school teachers 鈥� including those working in charter preschools 鈥� have a  of $53,390 this year. 

Charter preschools can offer more stability and state benefits for staff members, Hayashi said, but it also raises the bar for teacher qualifications. Teachers working in private, licensed preschools must hold an associate degree or credential in early childhood education. But charter schools require educators to be licensed, meaning that they must have completed both a bachelor鈥檚 degree and a teacher preparation program. 

It鈥檚 a hard requirement to fill amid a statewide shortage of early educators, Hayashi said. Five of her six lead teachers are emergency hires, meaning that they have three years to complete their licensing requirements. Once they meet those requirements, they鈥檒l be eligible for higher salaries. 

Complicating staffing challenges, Hayashi said, several preschool teachers also work as after-school care staff. The after-school program runs separately from the charter school and is offered through Waik墨k墨 Community Center for $200 a month. 

It鈥檚 sometimes difficult to offer after-school care when teachers have afternoon staff meetings for the charter school, Hayashi said, but it鈥檚 the best solution she鈥檚 found to meet the needs of working families. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 just been an adjustment,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he only way that it works so far is that we have a lot of our staff that have been willing to have basically a second job.鈥� 

Short On Funding

Like K-12 public schools, charter preschools rely on state dollars 鈥� but the current funding levels aren鈥檛 enough to sustain these programs, Goya said. 

The state provides  up to $1,500 for low-income families attending private preschools, Goya said, meaning that these programs could receive up to $300,000 annually in state funds for a classroom of 20 students, compared to the $171,000 for a charter classroom. 

DOE schools receive less money 鈥� around $146,000 for every preschool classroom they open on their campus 鈥� but they also need to cover fewer costs than charters. For example, Tsuchiya said, DOE schools already have money set aside in their budgets for principals and janitors, regardless of whether they add a preschool classroom to their campus. 

On the other hand, she said, set costs for administrators鈥� salaries and facility maintenance are spread across just a few classrooms in charter preschools, which typically have smaller programs and fewer kids. Most charters face the additional expenses of rent and facilities since they aren鈥檛 located on state land. 

Hayashi estimates Waik墨k墨 Community Preschool will face a budget shortfall of around $150,000 to $200,000 this year, although she鈥檚 confident the school can raise enough money with the support of the community center, which has raised similar amounts of money for the preschool in the past.   

Another charter, Parkway Village Preschool in Kapolei, is also facing budget shortfalls after  earlier this year. While Parkway originally projected it would have an annual deficit of $34,000 per classroom, it鈥檚 now up against shortfalls of closer to $50,000 to $60,000 per class as it grows its staff, said Ben Naki, who oversees early learning programs at Parents And Children Together, the nonprofit associated with the preschool. 

The school is prepared to make up the difference through fundraising and support from foundations, Naki said, and hopes to participate in a federal meals program that can help reduce the costs of producing lunches. But the current levels of funding make it difficult for small programs to become charter schools, especially if they鈥檙e not partnering with outside organizations that can provide administrative support or help with major fundraising efforts. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e committed to it with the notion, or, I guess, hope, that funding will increase on the charter side, because that would be huge,鈥� Naki said. 

Earlier this year, the state received only two applications from prospective charter preschools 鈥� Waik墨k墨 Community Preschool and Mana 鈥楿lu Montessori Charter Lab School. Mana 鈥楿lu planned to build on existing partnerships with Chaminade University鈥檚 lab school, which has its own private preschool, but its application was not approved.

Turning privately owned programs into charters won鈥檛 necessarily add new preschool seats for the state, Tsuchiya said. But, with enough funding, the charter model can stabilize existing programs at risk of closing by providing them a steady stream of state funding and incentivizing educators to earn their teacher licenses and qualify for higher pay. 

At the same time, Goya said, the commission is working with K-12 charter schools to add preschool programs to campuses with available space. Currently, she said, the commission is planning to add 15 more preschool classrooms by fall 2028. 

The School Facilities Authority, the state agency in charge of preschool construction, recently received $20 million to build more preschool classrooms over the next three years, but the funding can only go toward adding classrooms to schools on government-owned land.

Since many charters are on private property, not all schools qualify for the money, authority director Riki Fujitani said. But the agency was still able to renovate three preschool classrooms at Wai驶alae School this summer and is working on preschool projects at an additional four charter campuses. 

鈥淐harters,鈥� he said, 鈥渉ave really been quick to embrace pre-k.鈥�

Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

A conservative mainland group whose lawsuit against Harvard University ended affirmative action in college admissions is now building support in Hawai驶i to take on Kamehameha Schools鈥� policies that give preference to Native Hawaiian students.

Students for Fair Admissions, based in Virginia, recently launched the website . It says that the admission preference 鈥渋s so strong that it is essentially impossible for a non-Native Hawaiian student to be admitted to Kamehameha.鈥�

鈥淲e believe that focus on ancestry, rather than merit or need, is neither fair nor legal, and we are committed to ending Kamehameha鈥檚 unlawful admissions policies in court,鈥� the website says.

Kamehameha鈥檚 Board of Trustees and CEO Jack Wong said in a written statement that the school expected the policy would be challenged. The institution 鈥� a private school established through the estate of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop to educate Hawaiians 鈥� successfully defended its admission policy in a series of lawsuits in the early 2000s. The trustees and Wong promised to do so again.

鈥淲e are confident that our policy aligns with established law, and we will prevail,鈥� the statement said.

The campaign also drew criticism from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, established in the late 1970s for the betterment of Native Hawaiians. OHA鈥檚 Board of Trustees called it an 鈥渁ttack on the right of Native Hawaiians to care for our own, on our own terms.鈥�

鈥淭hese attacks are not new 鈥� but they are escalating,鈥� the trustees said in a written statement. 鈥淭hey aim to dismantle the hard-won protections that enable our people to heal, rise, and chart our future.鈥�

Several groups have tried and failed in the past to overturn Kamehameha鈥檚 admissions policy. Federal courts, siding with Kamehameha, have ruled that giving preference to Native Hawaiians helps alleviate historical injustices they faced after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893.

In the 2006 decision upholding Kamehameha Schools鈥� admissions policy, a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel pointed to longstanding challenges Native Hawaiian students have faced in schools. 

鈥淚t is clear that a manifest imbalance exists in the K-12 educational arena in the state of Hawai驶i, with Native Hawaiians falling at the bottom of the spectrum in almost all areas of educational progress and success,鈥� Judge Susan Graber wrote in the majority opinion. 

These disparities persist. Just over a third of Native Hawaiian students in public schools were proficient in reading in 2024, compared to 52% of students statewide. Less than a quarter of Native Hawaiian students were proficient in math.

The state education department has also fallen short of providing families with adequate access to Hawaiian language immersion programs, according to two lawsuits filed against the department this summer. The Hawaiian immersion programs are open to all students, not just those of Hawaiian ancestry.  

Moses Haia III, a lawyer and former director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said that improving outcomes for Hawaiian students is Kamehameha鈥檚 primary reason for existing. He said this new challenge appears to be based on ignorance of Hawai驶i鈥檚 history.

鈥淯ltimately, what I see is these people being uneducated,鈥� Haia said of the mainland group. 鈥淣ot knowing the history of Hawai驶i, not knowing the reasons for Kamehameha鈥檚 existence, and just once again trying to push Hawaiians into this box鈥� and wanting to be on top.鈥�

Past Challenges 

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that private schools can鈥檛 discriminate based on race in a case called Runyon v. McCrary, which involved Black school students trying to gain admission to private schools that had yet to integrate non-white students.

An anonymous student sued Kamehameha in 2003, invoking the 1976 ruling and alleging that the school鈥檚 policy of giving preference to Hawaiian children was discriminatory. The case eventually landed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A majority of the appeals court judges sided with Kamehameha. They used a part of the Civil Rights Act that prohibits discrimination in the workplace as a legal framework for looking at the admissions policy.

Judge Graber wrote that a preference for Native Hawaiian students 鈥渟erves a legitimate remedial purpose by addressing the socioeconomic and educational disadvantages facing Native Hawaiians, producing Native Hawaiian leadership for community involvement, and revitalizing Native Hawaiian culture, thereby remedying current manifest imbalances resulting from the influx of western civilization.鈥�

But it was a narrow victory for Kamehameha, an 8-to-7 vote. Dissenting judges wrote that admitting mostly Hawaiian students didn鈥檛 create a diverse student body; others said that the policy was clearly discriminatory.

The anonymous student appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But Kamehameha entered a $7 million settlement with the student and their mother before the court decided whether to take up the case.

While the settlement safeguarded the admission policy from a ruling by the nation鈥檚 highest court it also meant lawyers punted the issue.

Another group of anonymous students challenged the admissions policy a few years later and again took that case to the Supreme Court. But the court declined to take up that case in 2011.

Students for Fair Admissions previously brought two landmark cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, arguing that the two schools鈥� race-conscious admissions policies discriminated against Asian American and white applicants. The Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that colleges cannot use race as a factor in their admissions, although the decision didn鈥檛 specify what this could mean for K-12 schools.

Last fall, the number of Black students  fell, although some researchers cautioned that colleges might not see the full impact of the Supreme Court ruling until a few admissions cycles have passed. 

The challenge to Kamehameha Schools鈥� admissions policies comes amid national pushback on efforts to promote diversity in schools. In February, the U.S. Department of Education said any colleges and K-12 schools using race-based practices in hiring and admissions could lose federal funding, although a court subsequently prevented the department from enforcing those requirements. 

Kamehameha receives no funding from the federal government, according to its tax filings. The school, which is the state鈥檚 largest private landowner, has assets valued at about $15 billion.

This was originally published on .

As students returned to class earlier this month, Hawai驶i schools reported the lowest number of teacher vacancies the state has seen in more than five years. As of last week, only 73 teacher positions were unfilled, compared to more than 1,000 in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

But schools are employing a growing number of unlicensed teachers, also known as emergency hires, to fill those vacancies. Last August, Hawai驶i schools started the year with 670 emergency hires, an 80% increase from four years ago. 

Emergency hires can work in schools for up to three years but must make progress toward earning their licenses. 

The recent increase in emergency hires partly stems from state efforts to put more teachers in classrooms, including increasing pay for unlicensed educators in 2023. But while  that emergency hires tend to have higher retention rates, they may also be less effective than licensed teachers, who typically have more training and classroom experience.

While the Hawai驶i teacher licensing board  in schools, it doesn鈥檛 publish regular data on how many of these teachers go on to earn their teacher licenses and continue working in public schools here.    

Even so, principals and researchers say hiring unlicensed teachers is better than leaving positions vacant, which can leave schools scrambling for substitutes. The state has also explored other options to , like raising teacher pay and bringing in workers from the Philippines, but some solutions may only be temporary. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 a united front to attract qualified educators that are already certified,鈥� said Chris Sanita, principal at H膩na High and Elementary. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a larger state issue on housing and affordability.鈥� 

A Growing Population

In 2018, Brandon Galarita began teaching at Ke鈥檈lik艒lani Middle School as an emergency hire, hoping to build on his experience as a substitute teacher and use his college degree in English. While the pay was low, Galarita said, working full-time as an emergency hire allowed him to earn a living while also completing the requirements for a teacher license. 

鈥淎t least it starts building a teacher if they want to go into education,鈥� said Galarita, who earned his license from the University of Hawai驶i M膩noa in 2020. 鈥淚 would hope that the influx of emergency hires will result in more teachers that are staying in the profession.鈥� 

Osa Tui Jr., president of the state teachers鈥� union, said he attributes the big jump in emergency hires to the pay raise they received two years ago. Currently, emergency hires earn about $50,300 a year, compared to $38,500 previously. 

鈥淭hese numbers reflect exactly what we were hoping to accomplish,鈥� Tui said. 

The state has encouraged prospective educators, including emergency hires, to earn their licenses through the Grow Our Own initiative at UH M膩noa, which helps cover the costs of tuition for teacher preparation programs. Teachers who complete the program and earn their licenses must work in public schools for at least three years. 

Emergency hire numbers don鈥檛 always reflect teachers鈥� progress toward earning their licenses, said Wai驶anae Intermediate School Principal John Wataoka. While he has around 11 emergency hires on staff this year, only one of the teachers has yet to complete a teacher preparation program.

The rest have finished their training but are waiting to take a licensing exam or haven鈥檛 received the results of their final tests yet, Wataoka said. 

鈥淩ight now, it鈥檚 just a waiting game,鈥� he said. 

But a recent study of emergency hires entering Massachusetts schools during the pandemic suggests that unlicensed teachers may be less effective than other educators. Students taught by emergency hires tended to have lower math and science test scores compared to their peers,  from the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research. 

Jonathon Medeiros, a teacher at Kaua驶i High School and vice president of the Hawai驶i Education Association, said he understands parents鈥� possible concerns about emergency hires and the quality of education students are receiving. But it鈥檚 still preferable to have an emergency hire in a classroom than a substitute 鈥� or nobody at all.

In the past, Medeiros said, students were occasionally sent to the library or cafeteria for study hall when there weren鈥檛 enough educators to teach every class and the state faced a shortage of substitute teachers. 

Unlike emergency hires, DOE doesn鈥檛 require  to have a college degree.   

鈥淲e all want skilled, caring, talented teachers who are from the community and committed to their schools,鈥� Medeiros said. 鈥淗ow do we make sure we get those people in every single classroom is the key question.鈥�

Expanding The Pool

While the boost in emergency hire pay has attracted more teachers to public schools, the state is still searching for other solutions to increase the hiring pool. 

At Wai驶anae Intermediate, Wataoka said he鈥檚 hired seven international teachers to fill staff positions over the past two years. The J-1 visa program, which DOE has participated in since 2019, allows teachers from other countries, primarily the Philippines, to teach in the state for up to five years. 

This year, the department hired around 100 new teachers through the visa program, Superintendent Keith Hayashi said in a Board of Education meeting earlier this month. International teachers鈥� interest in working in Hawai驶i is comparable to past years, he said, despite concerns that participation could drop after Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents  of teachers from the Philippines last spring. 

On Maui, Sanita said he鈥檚 also seeing the impact of the bonuses introduced for teachers in hard-to-fill positions five years ago. While it鈥檚 difficult to attract people to H膩na 鈥� a town with limited housing and no stop signs 鈥� the $8,000 bonus for remote schools helps retain teachers who would otherwise struggle with the high cost of living, Sanita said.   

鈥淭he differentials have really helped people, our teachers in Hana, not to have five different side hustles,鈥� Sanita said. 鈥淭hey can actually teach and make ends meet.鈥� 

The bonuses have also incentivized teachers to remain at Wai驶anae Intermediate even when they face long commutes from other parts of the island, Wataoka said. While the Leeward Coast has the greatest concentration of new teachers in the state, the $8,000 bonus has helped experienced teachers cover the cost of gas to West O驶ahu and remain at Wai驶anae Intermediate.

But despite more retention measures in place, the department saw a jump in the number of teachers leaving schools last year. Over 1,200 teachers voluntarily resigned or retired from DOE in the 2023-24 school year, compared to roughly 1,000 the year before.

Tui said there鈥檚 no single answer as to why the number of teachers leaving schools jumped. In some cases, teachers may have felt more comfortable changing jobs after the pandemic as they faced less uncertainty in the job market, he said. 

This year, educators continuing to work in public schools will receive a 3% pay raise, with some veteran teachers receiving a larger raise of around 7%. While the pay increase will encourage teachers to stay in schools longer, Tui said, it鈥檚 possible the state will see a wave of educators retiring after three years as they qualify for higher state pensions. 

For teachers hired before 2012, the state uses their three highest years of pay to determine their pensions. 

鈥淲e have to make sure that we can get people into the profession that we can recruit to handle a drop off like that,鈥� Tui said. 

Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

Mia Palacio felt like she lost a piece of herself after wildfires destroyed much of her hometown of Lahaina in 2023. 

Palacio struggled to deal with the grief of losing her town and home. She isolated herself from her loved ones and often felt angry 鈥� that her family didn鈥檛 have a permanent place to stay, that more people weren鈥檛 able to evacuate the night of Aug. 8, that she was moving between high schools where she didn鈥檛 feel welcomed. 

The pain only intensified as the months wore on and, finally, nearing the first anniversary of the fires, Palacio reached out for help.

Hundreds of students like Palacio have struggled mentally since the fires and not all have received the help they need. The Hawai驶i Department of Education estimates more than a third of Maui students lost a family member, sustained a serious injury or had a parent lose a job after the fires, which killed 102 people and damaged more than 3,300 properties in Lahaina. 

Two years later, many in Lahaina are ready to return to normal. But therapists say students鈥� mental health challenges continue to mount. 

That鈥檚 common after a disaster, especially at the two-year mark, when adrenaline wears off and stress remains high, said Christopher Knightsbridge, one of several researchers at the University of Hawai驶i who has studied the well-being of Lahaina fire survivors. While kids may feel numb immediately following a disaster, after two years, they鈥檙e facing the toll of constant uncertainty and change, he said.  

It鈥檚 a phenomenon seen wherever schooling has been disrupted by natural disasters, reporting by Honolulu Civil Beat, The Associated Press and several other news outlets shows. But a couple years after the disaster, schools are not always prepared with extra mental health supports. On Maui, for instance, the island is dealing with an ongoing shortage of specialists. In the past few years, the number of psychiatrists serving youth has dropped from four to two, even as demand has grown.

鈥淭he crisis isn鈥檛 over,鈥� Knightsbridge said. 

Two Years In 

Palacio made progress with the help of a school counselor and then a local organization that supports teens鈥� mental health through outdoor activities and adventures. Now, the senior at Lahainaluna High School said she鈥檚 more comfortable confiding in others and controlling her emotions, and she takes pride in mentoring younger students who have also struggled since the fires. 

But two years in, many kids still wrestle with depression and anxiety.

DayJahiah Valdivia, a senior at K墨hei Charter School, said her stress levels still spike when there鈥檚 strong winds or small brush fires on Maui. Valdivia lives in Upcountry Maui, which also faced wildfires that burned over a thousand acres of land on the same day as the 2023 Lahaina fires. Her home was spared, but it took months for her family to return because their property was covered in soot and needed professional cleaning. 

She feels less anxious now that her family has discussed their escape plan for future disasters. But a summer fire near a friend鈥檚 home in Central Maui renewed her fears about her loved ones鈥� safety. 

鈥淭he anxiety never really wore off,鈥� she said, adding it was especially difficult to concentrate in class or feel safe on windy days during the first year after the fires. 

In a  conducted in 2024, just over half of children reported symptoms of depression, and 30% were likely facing an anxiety disorder. Nearly half of kids in the study, ages 10 to 17, were experiencing PTSD. 

Children in disaster-torn towns across the U.S. can relate. 

In Paradise, California, where the 2018 Camp Fire took 85 lives, a protracted period of disillusionment followed what some called the 鈥渉ero phase,鈥� where the community pulled together and vowed to resurrect their town. Both Lahaina and Paradise had housing shortages after their fires, so families had to move away or live with friends to go to school or work in the area. In general, students who don鈥檛 have a permanent living arrangement tend to struggle more academically and have more behavioral challenges,  shows. 

Many Paradise students still cope with anxiety and grief, seven years later, making it difficult to fully engage in school. A year after the Camp Fire, 17% of students were homeless, and the suspension rate was 7.4%, compared to 2.5% statewide. The suspension rate remained nearly triple the state average last year, and more than 26% were . 

Aryah Berkowitz, who lost her home, two dogs and her family鈥檚 business in the Paradise blaze, dealt with lingering behavioral challenges following the disaster. For nearly a year afterward, her family of seven, plus a pair of surviving pitbull-labrador mixes, lived with a friend in nearby Chico, sharing two bedrooms and a bathroom. Berkowitz, then in sixth grade, slept on the couch.

鈥淚 was having to help my family a lot and wasn鈥檛 able to handle it,鈥� said Berkowitz, a once-high-achieving student who was suspended twice after the fire. 鈥淚 was holding it inside and took it out on other people. Some days I鈥檇 just walk out of class.鈥�

Back on Maui, many students similarly disengaged from school.  In a DOE survey of Maui students in the first year after the fires, roughly half of kids said they were having trouble focusing in class or felt upset when they were reminded of the wildfires.   

Some have found it difficult to retain class material or simply stopped attending in-person classes as they moved between hotel rooms and temporary housing, according to Lahainaluna High teacher Jarrett Chapin. A few moved to online learning as their families faced continued instability. 

鈥淭hey just sort of vanished,鈥� Chapin said. 

A Shortage Of Specialists

Maui has long dealt with medical workforce challenges. Even before the fires, Maui faced a shortage of mental health professionals because of the state鈥檚 high cost of living and housing shortage.

The fires brought burnout and greater economic obstacles, only exacerbating the issue. Since then, Hawaii鈥檚 education department has tried to bulk up Maui鈥檚 mental health staff, first by bringing in providers from neighbor islands and the mainland and then by using a $2 million federal grant to support students鈥� well-being and academics. 

But hiring mental health staff has been so difficult that even the federal money hasn鈥檛 made much of a dent: In the first nine months of the grant, the state education department primarily used the money to  nearly an hour to Lahaina schools from other parts of the island.

The state has now used the money to hire five part-time mental health providers working with students and staff, including one specialist who works in the evenings with students who live on Lahainaluna鈥檚 campus as boarders, said Kimberly Lessard, a Department of Education district specialist.

Still, two of the six behavioral health specialist positions in Lahaina schools remained unfilled as of this summer and have been for years, Lessard said. 

Valdivia, who still deals with anxiety from the Upcountry Maui fires, has seen the impacts of the provider shortage firsthand. She鈥檚 on a two- to three-month waiting list to see a psychiatrist on Maui, and she鈥檚 seeing an O驶ahu-based therapist via telehealth because there aren鈥檛 enough providers who can meet with her in person. 

While she鈥檚 grateful to have connected with a therapist who can make their virtual meetings work, it鈥檚 frustrating to go through such a lengthy process to get help, Valdivia said. 

鈥淓ven just to get evaluated (by a psychiatrist), it鈥檚 literally months,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 just think that鈥檚 crazy.鈥�

It鈥檚 common for disaster-torn communities to struggle with shortages of psychological staff, often because of burnout and a lack of resources. 

In Puerto Rico, which has suffered from a series of disasters since Hurricane Maria struck in 2017, students have experienced high rates of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. 

Yet despite legislation in 2000 to create more school psychologist positions, it wasn鈥檛 until the pandemic that the commonwealth鈥檚 Education Department dedicated money to hire them. 

The school psychologists 鈥渃an鈥檛 keep up,鈥� said Nellie Zambrana, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Puerto Rico at R铆o Piedras. Those who are working are overstretched, according to a study by the university鈥檚 Psychological Research Institute. One psychologist, the study said, was assigned to more than 100 students at three schools. 

New Ways To Help

On a Tuesday afternoon in June, Loren Lapow wasn鈥檛 deterred by the storm clouds gathering over D.T. Fleming Beach on Maui. The social worker helped teens carry an inflatable paddleboard to the water鈥檚 edge, cheering them on as they swam. 

Amid the fun, Lapow directed the teens to reflect on their fears and losses, asking them how they feel when they smell smoke in the air or think about Lahaina鈥檚 Front Street, most of which was destroyed in the blaze. 

鈥淧laces are like a friend to us,鈥� Lapow said. 鈥淲hen you lose places, it hurts.鈥� 

Lapow founded the Maui Hero Project, which  describes as 鈥渁dventure-based counseling services.鈥� The eight-week program Lapow started just over 25 years ago teaches kids basic disaster preparedness skills and immerses them in outdoor activities. It鈥檚 also a form of mental health support. Healing from trauma comes in many forms, Lapow said, whether it鈥檚 helping kids create new friendships or leading small group discussions about the mental toll of the fires.  

鈥淲e need to create a culture of healing and resiliency,鈥� Lapow said.

Lapow鈥檚 approach has become a common strategy for nonprofits and therapists trying to reach kids who have balked at discussing their mental health since the fires. But those efforts aren鈥檛 always reaching kids who need the most help. 

There鈥檚 a strong stigma around seeking mental health services, particularly in Filipino and Latino communities that make up a large portion of Lahaina鈥檚 population, said Ruben Juarez, a professor at UH who led the research study on fire survivors. Families may see counseling as a sign of weakness, he said, and children may be reluctant to open up to therapists out of fear of being judged or scrutinized.

Yet in the study, Latino teens reported the highest rates of severe depressive and PTSD symptoms. Filipino teens reported some of the highest rates of anxiety. Similar cultural trends are seen in communities across the U.S.

Moving forward, Juarez said, kids鈥� mental health needs to be at the forefront of recovery plans. 

The state is hoping struggling students will open up to their peers.  A new Oregon-based program called YouthLine will train Hawai驶i teens to respond to crisis calls, said Keli Acquaro, the administrator for the Department of Health鈥檚 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division. In addition to providing kids with real-time support from people their own age, Acquaro said, it will hopefully strengthen the pipeline of local students considering careers in mental health. 

Keakealani Cashman, who graduated from Kamehameha Schools Maui in 2024, is hoping to be part of the state鈥檚 solution to provide more mental health support to the next generation of children. 

After losing her home to the fires, Cashman spent her senior year talking to Native Hawaiian practitioners and researching how cultural values, like connections to the land and her ancestors, could help her community heal from the trauma of the fires. The project improved her own mental health, said Cashman, who regularly met with her school鈥檚 behavioral health specialist. 

Now, Cashman is entering her second year at Brigham Young University Hawaii and hopes to work as a behavioral health specialist in Hawaiian immersion schools.  

鈥淭his horrible, horrible thing happened to me and my family, but I don鈥檛 have to let it kill the rest of my life,鈥� Cashman said. 鈥淚 can really help my family, my community in school, and just make an impact in what I know how to do.鈥� 

In January, the Department of Education released a shocking number: it now costs nearly $9 to produce a school lunch in Hawai驶i. Lawmakers and advocates 鈥� after they recovered from the sticker shock 鈥� responded with a reasonable question: Why are school meals so expensive? 

Eight months later, the public still doesn鈥檛 have an answer. Despite pressure from lawmakers, the department has yet to publish detailed information about why it costs so much to feed students. 

The department doesn鈥檛 share 鈥� and may not even collect 鈥� campus-level data on how much individual schools are spending on meals. It has provided no breakdown of how much the state spends on items like milk or fresh produce that go into lunches.

But lawmakers say schools need to explain what鈥檚 driving up the costs, especially since the DOE is struggling to make ends meet with its lunch program and has requested an additional $40 million from the Legislature over the past two years on top of the state and federal funds it already receives for its meal program.

Hawai驶i law requires the education department to charge families half the cost of producing school meals, although current lunch prices fall far below that threshold. In January, the DOE proposed gradually  over the next four years, but state lawmakers stepped in with funds to avoid increasing costs for families.  

Under the DOE鈥檚 proposal, lunch for elementary and middle school students would cost $4.75 by 2028. High schoolers would pay $5 for meals. 

Breaking Down The Numbers 

The DOE serves more than 18 million meals every year to students across 258 campuses. This spring, lawmakers set aside roughly $50 million to fund the school meal program over the next two years. 

The department publishes  for its food services branch, but the online reports only track the total amount of money coming in and out of the meals program. Through of the 2024-25 school year, the program brought in $108 million in student payments and state and federal funds, but spent roughly $123 million on meals, salaries and other expenses.

In response to a Civil Beat public records request for school and state-level spending on lunches this spring, a representative from the superintendent鈥檚 office shared a one-page financial report breaking down the meal program鈥檚 spending and revenue in more detail. Roughly 40% of the 2023-24 budget went toward the salaries and benefits of workers, and the department spent roughly $81 million on food. 

But there was little information explaining what goes into a $9 school meal 鈥� for example, how much the department spent on specific ingredients or juice, or what cafeteria supplies cost the department more than $5.6 million in 2024. The department provides more detailed estimates of its purchase of local ingredients in its , but this spending makes up only 5% of the school meal budget.

In response to Civil Beat鈥檚 request, the DOE also said it didn鈥檛 have records of schools鈥� annual financial reports for campus meal programs. The department did not respond to requests for interviews about the availability of school meal data and the rising costs of lunches.

Jesse Cooke, vice president of investments and analytics at Ulupono Initiative, said he鈥檚 concerned about a lack of consistent tracking and reporting from schools. He said he hasn鈥檛 seen any data breaking down the costs of meal programs at individual schools on a regular basis, which makes it harder for the department and lawmakers to identify what鈥檚 driving up the costs of meals and understand how programs can operate more efficiently. 

鈥淲hen you鈥檙e trying to make decisions, trying to make something more efficient, you need pretty quick numbers,鈥� Cooke said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not looking at specific schools and their numbers.鈥�

The education department has also come under fire from the federal government for its lack of data collection. When Hawai驶i sought an increase in  in 2015, officials denied the request because the department wasn鈥檛 able to provide enough details on the costs of its lunches, said Daniela Spoto, director of food equity at Hawai驶i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice. 

鈥淗istorically, the only thing they could provide is what they provided here,鈥� Spoto said. 鈥淗ere鈥檚 our cost, and here鈥檚 the total number of meals we provide.鈥� 

Lawmakers passed  this spring asking the department to produce a detailed breakdown of its meal programs, including the cost of ingredients, beverages and supplies. The DOE currently has no process of reporting and publishing such costs, the resolutions stated.

鈥淚t is essential to ensure that proper reporting processes are in place to provide transparency as to the costs of producing school meals,鈥� one resolution said. 

DOE leaders argued they publish enough information to justify rising lunch costs, but they鈥檝e given lawmakers mixed messages on the data that鈥檚 readily available. 

In one hearing, Interim School Food Services Branch Administrator Sue Kirchstein said the DOE already collects and publishes data on the costs of ingredients and other factors going into school meals. But another official said the DOE doesn鈥檛 collect data with the level of detail lawmakers were requesting, and the department鈥檚 communications team was unable to provide the report Kirchstein mentioned during the hearing. 

Besides looking at rising inflation rates, the department hadn鈥檛 completed a detailed analysis of what鈥檚 increasing the costs of meals, former Deputy Superintendent Dean Uchida said in another hearing this spring, drawing strong criticism from lawmakers. 

鈥淵ou should be looking at it, and maybe there鈥檚 a different way that you can do things,鈥� Sen. Troy Hashimoto said during the hearing. 鈥淏ut you won鈥檛 know that unless you do the analysis.鈥� 

The department has not said if it鈥檚 working on a cost analysis for the Legislature. Any report DOE submits to lawmakers won鈥檛 be published until late 2025 or early 2026 in the lead-up to the new legislative session.