Hawaii to make preschool available for all 3-4 year-olds - 0 views
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Lara Cowell on 20 Jan 23Hawaii put forward a plan Tuesday, 1/17/2023, to make preschool available to all 3- and 4-year-olds by 2032, which if successful would put the state in a rarified group of states managing to provide pre-kindergarten education to most of its children. Hawaii's leaders have aspired to universal pre-K for decades but have found it elusive. A recent analysis found the state was moving so slowly toward that goal that it would take 47 years to build all the public preschool capacity Hawaii needed. The state expects it will need 465 new classrooms to serve the additional students. Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who has been tasked by Gov. Josh Green to lead the state's efforts, said only half of Hawaii's 35,000 3- and 4-year-olds attend preschool, either by paying expensive tuition for private schools or obtaining one of the few spots in publicly-funded pre-K programs. The state estimates there are about 9,200 children whose parents want to send them to preschool but aren't able. It's targeting its plans at this group.