Hawaii

Overview

During the 2024-2025 school year, Hawaii preschool enrolled 1,637 children, an increase of 611 from the prior year. State spending totaled $13,273,747, up $5,542,752 (72%), adjusted for inflation, since last year. State spending per child equaled $8,109 in 2024-2025, up $573 from 2023-2024, adjusted for inflation. Hawaii met 10 of 10 quality standards benchmarks.

What's New

The State Legislature supported the addition of new classrooms for the Executive Office on Early Learning (EOEL) Public Prekindergarten Program over the 2025-2026 program year through the State of Hawaii Budget Process. With the addition of new resources, the EOEL Public Prekindergarten Program is now able to serve 2,275 students in 117 classrooms statewide during the 2025- 2026 program year.

Through the Ready Keiki Initiative, together with community partners, the Hawaii State Public Charter School Commission embraced the shared goal for the state of Hawaii aligned with Act 46 (SLH 2020) as amended by Act 210 (SLH 2021): 1) To meet fifty percent of unserved 3 and 4-year-old keiki by 2027; 2) To meet one hundred percent of unserved 3 and 4-year-old keiki by 2032; 3) To honor the two educational pathways in Olelo Hawaii (Hawaiian language) and English; 4) To commit to working collaboratively as partners to address the challenges; and 5) To maximize the use of Act 257, (SLH 2022), which invests $200 million to expand early learning facilities.

To effectuate this plan, the Commission envisioned implementing the following: 1) Create a new pathway to increase access to pre-K programs in charter schools; 2) Maximize the use of Act 257, SLH 2022, to expand early learning facilities in charter schools; 3) Develop a pre-K-only charter application to expand pre-K-only charter schools; and 4) Communicate unified support for high-quality pre-K for all of Hawaii keiki. In addition to the programs detailed here, Hawaii’s Preschool Open Doors (POD) provides subsidies to families with children age 2 to 5 and broadened the income eligibility threshold policy to 500% of the federal poverty level. The child care subsidy program helps low-income families to sustain their employment, educational efforts, and job training by paying a subsidy for their children who are in the care of Department of Human Services-approved child care providers. 

Background

In Hawaii, the EOEL Public Prekindergarten Program serves 3- and 4-year-old children, with priority given to students considered “at- risk,” including those from low-income families, now defined as 300% FPL. The EOEL Public Prekindergarten Program is required to operate on the same schedule as public elementary schools, providing services for 1,080 hours a year. EOEL expanded its eligibility to include three- and four-year-olds in the 2022-2023 school year.

Beginning in SY 2020-2021, through Act 46, SLH 2020, the legislature gave statutory authority to the State Public Charter School Commission to administer the early learning program in charter schools. Act 46, SLH 2020, also changed the eligibility criteria to include three- and four-year-old children.

Teachers in the EOEL Public Prekindergarten Program and the Hawaii State Public Charter School (SPCSC) Early Learning Program are part of the Hawaii State Teachers Association and, as such, receive salary and benefit parity with teachers in K–12 classrooms. Lead teachers in both programs are required to have a bachelor’s degree with licensure in ECE, while assistant teachers are required to have a CDA credential or coursework for a certificate that meets the requirements for child development associate credential preparation. The EOEL Public Prekindergarten Program and the SPCSC Early Learning Program classrooms receive CLASS observations twice a year, and formative child assessments using Teaching Strategies GOLD are conducted throughout the year with three checkpoints. In addition, all programs undergo fiscal monitoring annually, and program records are reviewed more than once per year.

* Indicates that while policy meets the benchmark, it is not being implemented fully