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More than 8,000 eligible Hawaii children do not attend preschool due to high costs and limited availability of spots in desired programs, a situation that warrants policy intervention and greater overall support, according to new analysis by the University of Hawaii Research Organization.

State officials have unveiled 44 new public preschools slated to open this school year, which includes the first two Hawaiian language classrooms under the Ready Keiki initiative.

For years, advocates have been pushing for more preschool access and Hawaiian immersion, or kaiapuni schools, throughout the state.

Hawaiʻi is getting $4.9 million for a program to recruit and retain teachers.

The money is from a federally funded State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula (SAEF) grant to launch an “earn-and-learn” program to mentor students to become teachers.

“The reality is Hawaiʻi has faced a teacher shortage for years. Addressing it will take a coordinated effort. … We have to support our future teachers by removing financial barriers and providing the benefits and mentorship they need to succeed,” said Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke in a statement.

Six new, public preschool classrooms will open in Maui County this fall for the 2024-2025 school year, announced Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and the state’s Ready Keiki Initiative on Friday. The pre-K schools enroll 20 students per classroom at no cost to parents.

In August, the state will see the opening of 44 new public preschool classrooms, with at least one located on each island.

This expansion will create 820 additional seats, increasing the total number of preschool spots to 1,767 statewide. 34 of the new classrooms will be situated in Title I schools.

Lt. Governor Sylvia Luke and executive director of PATCH Carol Wear share the good news about the Ready Keiki initiative's Preschool Open Doors (POD) expansion to a year-round application which includes 3- and 4-year olds. Applications are abeing accepted through January 31, 2025

The state will be opening what they call a “historic” number of public pre-K classrooms ahead of the new school year.

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke made the announcement at Kuhio Elementary on Friday that 44 new classrooms will open statewide come August.

This is part of the “Ready Keiki” initiative led by the lieutenant governor, the Executive Office on Early Learning (EOEL) and other partners to expand preschool services across the islands.

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke joined the Department of Education, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, and Hawaiʻi Teacher Standards Board to announce that Hawaiʻi has been awarded a $4.9 million State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula (SAEF) grant by the US Department of Labor to the DLIR. This funding will be used to support Hawaiʻi’s teacher workforce by creating the first statewide registered apprenticeship program for K-12 teachers.

The Preschool Open Doors program has been expanded, allowing families to apply at any time throughout the year on a rolling basis, instead of the previous fixed application period from January to the end of March.

The program provides monthly preschool tuition subsidies to qualified families for up to two years before kindergarten. Parents can choose any preschool licensed by the state Department of Human Services.

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke on Tuesday announced that the preschool tuition subsidy program is now accepting applications year-round.

The Preschool Open Doors program aims to give more children in Hawai‘i a chance to enroll in private preschools. The initiative is funded by the state Department of Human Services and administered by the organization People Attentive To Children, or PATCH.

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who is serving as Acting Governor, joined the state’s Department of Human Services to announce that the preschool tuition subsidy program, Preschool Open Doors, is now accepting applications on a year-round basis.

A preschool subsidy program through the state is expanding.

It's called Preschool Open Doors, and Tuesday afternoon Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke announced the expansion.

Hawaii families needing help paying for preschool are encouraged to apply for a newly expanded state program that provides monthly tuition subsidies to qualified students.

The Preschool Open Doors program is now offered for 3 and 4-year-olds, and income eligibility limits were increased to support more working families.

Since 2022, when the state’s Ready Keiki program received its $200 million investment for the addition of new preschool classrooms, it’s become clear to Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and others that both public and private participation are crucial elements.

As Hawaii stands on the verge of educational reform, the implementation of universal prekindergarten (pre-K) emerges not only as a practical solution to provide our children quality education and a promising future, but also as a critical step toward achieving social justice and equity in our society.

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke is leading the Ready Keiki initiative to open more preschools across the islands to help struggling families.

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke has been tasked with launching a new early learning program.

Child care is a major factor that contributes to the post-30s earning cliff facing women, as mothers with young children are more likely than fathers to reduce their work hours. In Hawaii, the high cost and low availability of child care exacerbate the problem.

The state could see an increase in the availability of early learning programs by taking advantage of vacant public spaces beyond the state Department of Education public school campuses.

Honolulu-based Pacific Marine & Supply Co. celebrated its 80th anniversary last week with an $80,000 donation to Palama Settlement to help build preschool classrooms as part of the state’s Ready Keiki initiative.

“CVS has been a trusted partner and trusted health partner for every resident living in Hawaii,” Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said at a news conference Wednesday. “I’m just so thankful for the investment that CVS has made to ensure that people in the state of Hawaii have housing and child care needs, not just for the current, present time, but for the future.”

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said the state remains dedicated to expanding access to preschools all around the state. She said far too many children have been unable to go to preschool simply because there are not enough classrooms or their parents cannot afford private pre-school tuition.

An estimated 2,000 more preschool children across the state are expected to receive early childhood education through subsidies made possible after the Legislature in 2023 increased funding to $50 million from $12 million to expand the “Preschool Open Doors” program, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke announced Thursday in her fifth-floor office of the state Capitol.

Where passersby might peer into the two new preschool classrooms at Nanakuli Elementary School and see blocks and books and tot-sized furniture, Principal Lisa Ann Higa sees a head start that disadvantaged students urgently need.

In less than three months, Nanakuli Elementary School was able to open two preschool classrooms, making room for 40 more preschoolers. The new classrooms are part of the state's "Ready Keiki" initiative to increase the number of preschool seats for children across the state.

A blessing was held Wednesday for new community centers and a new Bezos Academy preschool at the Kaiaulu o Kuku’ia, affordable housing project in Lahaina.

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke joined developer Ikaika ‘Ohana and Bezos Academy for a blessing ceremony commemorating the new preschool at the site of affordable rentals for 200 families, which is still under construction.

An estimated 200 affordable rentals are under construction in Lahaina as part of the Kaiāulu o Kūku′ia project, which includes Hawaiʻi’s very first Bezos Academy preschool.

“What does this community need more than anything else? Affordable housing and childcare,” said Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke who spoke at the project’s blessing event in West Maui on Wednesday morning.

A Native Hawaiian blessing marked the beginning of construction for new affordable housing and a tuition-free preschool on Maui.

“I can’t think of anyone more needing affordable housing and childcare in West Maui right now,” Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said.

Oo sticks, wielded by Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, Mayor Rick Blangiardi and an assortment of bankers, developers and other local officials, broke ground Tuesday on a $199 million affordable rental project offering two on-site preschools in Kapolei.

On day one of school, these 3- and 4-year-olds at Fern will mainly just be learning to let go of their parents’ hands, to eat school lunch, find the potty, and make friends with each other and the wiggly tetra and guppies in the class aquarium.

Wailuku Elementary will host one of the first 11 classrooms in the state under the Ready Keiki initiative, which aims to expand free public preschool programs as families face the high cost of early education and child care.

On Thursday morning, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, state lawmakers and state education officials stepped into the newly renovated classroom, which is equipped with wooden tables and chairs, a stack of blue cots for naptime and shelves fitted with transparent backing so teachers can keep an eye on kids.

The state plans to open 11 new free public preschool classrooms this fall as part of the Ready Keiki initiative.

On Thursday, lawmakers got a look at one of the classrooms at Wailuku Elementary School on Maui.

This August, it will be the learning hub for 20 children, ages three and four, at no cost to their parents.

Maui’s Wailuku Elementary is one of 11 public preschool classroom sites across the state that are slated to open this school year, thanks to Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke and the Ready Keiki Initiative.

The Lt. Gov. visited the Wailuku site Thursday morning, where she announced that two more classrooms at the school will be brought on as part of the program next year, to serve as a hub for Central Maui.

Several state officials were at Kilauea School on Thursday, where they visited a new preschool classroom set to open next month as part of Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke’s Ready Keiki initiative.

A new certificate for infant and toddler caregivers is now available through Honolulu Community College’s Early Childhood Education (ECED) program. Building on the momentum from the Ready Keiki initiative to expand access to preschool, and the tuition stipend available to current and potential early childhood educators and caregivers, the ECED program launched the certificate to provide more opportunities for individuals in the early childhood education and care profession.

State officials and the education community gathered to celebrate funding for the Early Childhood Educator Stipend Program that Hawaiʻi is once again embracing.

Aid has become available for current and future early childhood educators.

The state of Hawaiʻi has announced on Thursday, July 6 that it is once again offering a tuition stipend.

University of Hawaiʻi students enrolled in early childhood education programs could have their tuition covered under a stipend program aimed at bolstering the early learning workforce.

State and education officials announced Thursday that they will be advancing the Early Childhood Education Stipend Program at the UH Mānoa Children's Center.

Despite a two-year wait to fully launch Hawaii’s first public stipend program for early-childhood educators, state officials are hopeful that it will make big strides toward solving a chronic and severe shortage of teachers and caregivers for keiki ages 0 to 5.

State officials and community stakeholders celebrated funding for the Early Childhood Educator Stipend Program, an initiative to boost the state’s Early Childhood workforce, on July 6 at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Children’s Center, the on-campus preschool. The Executive Office on Early Learning (EOEL) received $660,000 in funding from the state budget, signed by Gov. Josh Green on June 30.

Gov. Josh Green signed several education-related bills into law on Monday that will impact educators, keiki and facilities throughout the state.

A series of bills signed into law on Monday looks to push Hawai’i further toward the goal of accessible education for early learners.

Gov. Josh Green has signed House Bill 961 into law. The measure extends the state’s Open Doors Preschool program to 3-year-olds, appropriates funds for the program, expands accreditation opportunities, and authorizes the acceptance of federal funds.

Act 46, which was passed in 2020, set a goal to expand preschool access to all 3- and 4-year-olds statewide by the year 2032. Through Lt. Gov. Syliva Luke’s Ready Keiki initiative, hundreds of millions of dollars have already been allocated to building more pre-K classrooms and expanding access to education.

Measures giving the state’s new School Facilities Authority access to millions more dollars and dramatically broader flexibility to build teacher housing and preschool classrooms were among a group of education-related bills signed into law by Gov. Josh Green in a ceremony Monday.

The governor signed four new education measures into law Monday, including one aimed at bolstering affordable housing for teachers.

The new affordable teacher housing is designed to aid in recruiting and retaining educators to work in Hawaii’s public school system amid an ongoing teacher shortage.

At the Royal Elementary School library in Honolulu on Monday, Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green signed into law four education and early-education bills that include housing for teachers.

“We need 1,200 teachers to fill our annual teacher shortage,” Green said while signing SB941 (Act 172). It authorizes the School Facilities Authority to partner with public and private agencies to develop housing on- or off-campus for teachers, other educators and staff, and to develop classrooms.

Parents can now apply for the State of Hawaiʻi’s free, high-quality pre-kindergarten programs that are available to all 3- and 4-year-old children on the Big Island.

The state’s Public Pre-kindergarten Program is designed to provide valuable learning experiences, with a commitment to inclusive education.

The program accepts up to 20 keiki per classroom, including those with special needs.

Parents can now apply for the State of Hawaiʻi’s free, high-quality pre-kindergarten programs that are available to all 3- and 4-year-old children on the Big Island.

The state’s Public Pre-kindergarten Program is designed to provide valuable learning experiences, with a commitment to inclusive education.

The program accepts up to 20 keiki per classroom, including those with special needs.

A newly renovated preschool classroom in Waimea is ahead of schedule and under budget as part of the Ready Keiki initiative led by Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke.

The classroom is located at Waimea Elementary School and was expected to cost roughly $1 million for renovations, new chairs and other adjustments required for 3- and 4-year-old students.