KILAUEA — A new public preschool classroom at Kilauea School is one of 10 others across the state set to open next month, as part of a more than $200 million plan to expand preschool and child care options in Hawai‘i.
Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke is leading the initiative, known as Ready Keiki, which aims to build 450 new preschool classrooms —consisting of 20 students each — by 2032.
Luke will host a site visit of the Kilauea School’s new classroom on Thursday, July 20, at 3 p.m., along with state Senate President Ron Kouchi, state House Majority Leader Nadine Nakamura, state Board of Education Chair Warren Haruki, state Department of Education Kaua‘i Complex Area Superintendent Daniel Hamada and Principal Fig Mitchell.
The event will include a tour of the new classroom and an update for legislators on the preschool’s progress.
“This Thursday, we will be going to the site, looking at the new classroom, giving an update to the legislators to thank them,” said Luke in an interview with The Garden Island, adding that philanthropic partners would also be unveiling school supplies for incoming preschoolers.
Luke explained that Kilauea was selected as a preschool location for Kaua‘i after Head Start, a federally funded child care program, stopped operating in the area.
“The Head Start program stopped providing preschool, and since then there was a lot of need in the Kilauea community,” Luke said.
“That’s why we quickly looked at opening one in Kilauea, and we are very happy that the school construction is almost complete,” she added.
The 10 other public preschool classrooms also slated to open in August are Waimea Elementary School on Hawai‘i Island, as well as Hana High &Elementary School and Wailuku Elementary School on Maui. O‘ahu will see the highest number of new preschool classrooms with Fern Elementary School, Honowai Elementary School, Ka‘ewai
Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary School, Pope Elementary School, Sunset Beach Elementary School and Wahiawa Elementary School all expected to open.
Luke stated the initiative’s first 11 classrooms are opening under budget and a year earlier than expected.
“We’re excited by the fact that we are a year ahead of schedule. When we’re looking at taking care of kids who are 3- and 4-year-olds, if we wait one year, they may not even be preschool eligible. So we want to make sure that we have preschools open sooner than later,” Luke said.
The state Legislature appropriated $200 million for the initiative last year, and the first 11 classrooms will cost roughly $500,000 each.
Luke said they would “need a lot more than $200 million” to complete the 450 classroom initiative, but the initial funding would build between 100 to 200 more classrooms.
“What we’re hoping is that right now, only 50 percent of our kids (in the state) are going to preschool, and in order to take care of the rest of the 50 percent, we’re going to need to build about 450 new classrooms,” she said.
According to Luke, the state Legislature is expecting all 450 new classrooms to be completed by 2032.
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Emma Grunwald, reporter, can be reached 808-652-0638 or egrunwald@thegardenisland.com.
