Gov. David Ige announced two of the boldest initiatives of his
administration Tuesday by proposing to restructure as much as half of
the state’s public elementary schools to accommodate state-funded preschools, and to lease out state lands for condominium developments.
Ige’s preschool proposal, which was included in the State of the State address
he delivered Tuesday at the Capitol, would move sixth-graders into
middle schools at some schools, freeing up space in elementary schools
for preschool classes.
“First and foremost, we must create a universal, statewide,
high-quality public preschool system that will give every child in
Hawaii a head start on learning,” Ige said. “Ultimately, we will need
more than 300 public pre-K classrooms. Clearly, this is a long-term
goal. But we don’t have to wait until we have funding for all of it.”
House lawmakers praised Ige’s speech and said they support the idea
of universal preschool but have reservations about the cost. House
Democratic Majority Leader Della Au Belatti said Ige’s preschool plan
would eventually cost the state an extra $51 million a year for
operations and require another $500 million for additional classroom
construction.
When asked about those concerns, state schools Superintendent
Christina Kishimoto replied that “answers to tough questions is what the
Legislature is here for, and so I am looking forward to how they talk
about a long-term solution to this.”
“There is national and very long-term research that says pre-K access
matters in closing the achievement gap” between students from
low-income families and students from higher-income families, Kishimoto
said. “We have a huge achievement gap in this state.”
Ige told reporters after his speech that “obviously, it’s a
decades-long process, but if we don’t have a goal and we don’t have a
vision, then we’ll never get there.”
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