Hawaii put forward a plan Tuesday to make preschool available to all 3- and 4-year-olds by 2032, which if successful would put the state in a rarified group of states managing to provide pre-kindergarten education to most of its children.

After decades of urgent calls for a statewide preschool system, a public- private plan finally is being launched to create 465 classrooms so that all Hawaii 3- and 4-year-olds can get access to preschool by 2032, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and community leaders are set to announce today.

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke unveiled the new Ready Keiki initiative on Tuesday, a $200 million public-private partnership to expand preschool services statewide.

Luke said that the state plans to build or refurbish more than 400 pre-kindergarten classes over the next decade, including 80 in the next 18 months.

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke unveiled her plan to expand access to preschool. She hopes that will allow all eligible children to have preschool access by 2032.

Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke unveils the state's "Ready Keiki initiative", a program to greatly expand early childhood education.

It will take ten years and hundreds of millions of dollars, but the program will eventually provide access to pre-K learning for every Hawaii family that wants it.

Hawaii’s education system is moving on two major goals: Finding classrooms for thousands of new preschool children and building more housing to attract and keep teachers.

Now, there’s an effort to fulfill both challenges ― in the same buildings.

A total of $18 million dollars will be steered into the repair or replacement of up to 100 school playgrounds across the state as the result of a partnership between the Department of Education and local nonprofit Hawaii 3R’s.

The plan was launched Monday by Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke against a backdrop of brightly colored play equipment at Pauoa Elementary School, installed under an earlier improvement effort.