© 2024 Hawaiʻi Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Lt. Gov. Luke's Ready Keiki program could face workforce shortfalls

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke visits Kūhiō Elementary in Honolulu to co-host a roundtable with Sen. Mazie Hirono on Feb. 23, 2023.
Office of Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke
/
Facebook
Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke visits Kūhiō Elementary in Honolulu to co-host a roundtable with Sen. Mazie Hirono on Feb. 23, 2023.

Local preschool teacher Cindy Barley estimates that early education enrollment in the system has decreased — but they still have a waitlist.

"We don't have enough teachers or qualified teachers to be able to come into the open classrooms that we have and to teach," said Barley, the executive director of Rainbow Schools. "We've been trying to do what we can in house to help retain the workforce that we have."

To Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, that was one of the more shocking statistics shared during a Thursday roundtable with early childhood care experts.

"That's a sad reality," Luke said.

As lieutenant governor, Luke has been leading a project to increase preschool access across the state by 2032. Her goal is to build or renovate classrooms, expand subsidiary access to improve affordability and create a pipeline for educators.

"The reason why we're calling it a universal access and not universal preschool is we recognize the importance of the private providers and the public space," Luke said Thursday during a joint roundtable with Sen. Mazie Hirono at Prince Jonah Kūhiō Elementary School.

Ready Keiki, in a way, builds off work that Hirono did years ago when she served as lieutenant governor for the Pre-Plus Program that expanded preschool affordability.

"Pre-Plus was a visionary because it was about the marriage between the public sector and private sector," Luke said.

The Ready Keiki launch in January at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in Honolulu was a show of force, with both state and private sector partners.

The state Legislature allocated $200 million to the cause in 2022. While creating more access and building out new facilities may change the landscape of early childhood care in Hawaiʻi, classrooms will not be able to open without a workforce to back them.

"One of the biggest barriers to retaining staff has really been wages and benefits and also working conditions," Dr. Terry Lock with the University of Hawaiʻi said.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2021, the median wage for preschool teachers was about $14.52 an hour, or about $30,210 annually. In Hawaiʻi, the annual salary is about $40,480.

"You can make more money at ABC store as an employee than as working at any of your preschools, it's just not pono," said Terry George, president and CEO of the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation.

One bill currently in the state Legislature, House Bill 547, would create a two-year infant and childcare worker subsidy pilot program under the state Department of Human Services and establish childcare worker pay at a minimum of $16 an hour. This bill is up for a hearing Friday.

George said there are four key components to making early childhood education work in the state: facilities, better wages, operating money and political will.

"As we build these new spaces, we cannot come with our begging bowl every year and hoping that that that the Legislature is going to provide additional money for Preschool Open Doors, or for operating publicly funded preschools," George said. "It has to be automatic and formulaic."

And now, he said, political will is at a high.

"We now have better political will than at any time since you started the Pre-Plus Program," George said to Hirono.

The shortage of early education teachers is a national issue and is one reason Hirono has co-sponsored the Childcare for Working Families Act, which would subsidize wages and build more childcare infrastructure.

"It's access and the accessibility, and not to mention, dire need for the workforce, because teachers are retiring in large numbers, and you're having a hard time recruiting people into the profession," Hirono said.

But the workforce in Hawaiʻi has a chance to expand, Luke said. At the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, the school offers dual certificates.

"In order to get a preschool degree, they had to do a dual degree of preschool and early education if we wanted to teach in the, in the public school system, so now what University of Hawaiʻi is doing is separating it out and have a single preschool degree," Luke said. "From what we understand is there had been a lot of interest in a preschool degree."

UH College of Education Dean Nathan Murata said it will be an effort throughout the university system.

"Mānoa alone can't do it alone," Murata said. "We count on our colleagues and partners with West Oʻahu, Hilo, our community colleges are our private providers, everyone," Murata said.

"Everyone's at the table and we're convening them soon, so that we all can be in it together, as we try to educate and get more teachers, highly qualified teachers in our schools, both private and public, community schools as well," he said.

For Ready Keiki, about $5 million will be used to renovate or retrofit 11 classrooms across the state in the next few months to open in August.

Luke said she has worked with past Hawaiʻi State Teacher Association leadership to identify retired or not-currently-teaching teachers who would be at these schools.

"So, we're not significantly worried about the short-term employee workforce issue," Luke said.

However, the long-term could pose as an issue.

"If we are committing to building about 450 classrooms and at the same time filling the classrooms that are not filled on the private side, then we really need an aggressive workforce pathway," Luke said.

Sabrina Bodon was Hawaiʻi Public Radio's government reporter.
Related Stories