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.

The first truly comprehensive set of data on Hawaii’s keiki and their readiness for kindergarten is now in. And it lays out, in unambiguous terms, what everyone’s known to some degree for years: The state’s young children are, to a startling extent, not prepared for starting school. Fewer than one-third of them scored well enough overall to qualify as kindergarten-ready.

In a Honolulu Star-­Advertiser interview, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said the low numbers for kindergarten readiness in some categories are worrisome, and suggest that despite major strides, Hawaii still must make urgent progress toward improving public awareness of the importance of early-childhood education, and increasing access to free or affordable preschool.

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.