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House Bill 157, introduced by State Representative Diamond Garcia, proposes requiring and implementing the teaching of the Hawaiian language, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, for public school students grades K through 12. The proposal would appropriate $5 million to create ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi curriculum and hire teachers to implement the program. The state Department of Education said in a statement they strongly support expanding ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi in public schools. The DOE currently offers it as a language course at 32 of its 64 high schools and Hawaiian language immersion is an option at 22 of its schools statewide. DOE officials say they would need to look at their ability to teach ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi at every grade level in all schools because qualified Hawaiian language teachers are already a high-need area with recruitment challenges.