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.

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.

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.

In one of the largest private efforts in recent history to ease Hawaii’s chronic shortage of schoolteachers, full-tuition scholarships for 150 people to become teachers through an online bachelor’s degree program were announced Wednesday under a partnership between Kamehameha Schools and Chaminade University.

The Mu‘o Scholarships are being offered in alignment with the state’s Ready Keiki initiative to create preschool access for all of Hawaii’s 3- and 4-year-old children by 2032.

They say [the teacher shortage] is one of Hawaii's most pressing community issues, so the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Chaminade University, and Kamehameha Schools are working together to try to solve it.

The education partnership will give full-tuition scholarships to educate, train, and prepare people who want to be teachers in this state.

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said 50% of keiki in Hawaii between three and four years old do not attend pre-school.

Her Ready Keiki initiative aims to build 450 preschools in 10 years, but Hawaii’s teacher shortage is a hurdle.

“Where are we going to get many of our preschool teachers? That’s why this is a great day where we’re announcing this partnership,” said Lt. Gov. Luke.