HONOLULU — When the new school year begins in August, more than 800 Hawaii children will gain access to free public preschool., the Executive Office on Early Learning plans to open 44 new classes serving 3- and 4-year-olds, bringing the number of state-operated classrooms to just over 90.
The state has doubled down on its efforts to expand families’ access to both free and tuition-based preschool options in recent years. In addition to ain public preschool facilities, the state has recently expanded a subsidy program helping families cover the tuition costs of private preschools. Yanagi said some families have transferred from her preschool to the state-run program to save on tuition in the past. Demand for Ka Hale O Na Keiki is still high, with a waitlist of 11 students for next school year, but Yanagi said she wishes the state had invested in existing preschools instead of opening more classrooms in the community.
To offer families more choices, she added, the state is expanding eligibility for its Preschool Open Doors program, which subsidizes the costs of private preschool for families. The program now serves 3-year-olds in addition to 4-year-olds, and families with higher incomes may also qualify. So far, Yanagi said, participation in POD hasn’t been as high as she had hoped. While she printed out POD applications for eligible families and urged them to apply, some parents simply forgot about the program’s deadline. Now, she added, some are unsure how they’ll pay for tuition next year.