The interest in Hawaiian language education has increased over the past 10 years, but advocates for the state program say its resources and staffing haven't seen the same growth.
Kaiapuni, the state's Hawaiian Immersion School where classes are taught in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, is offered at 33 Kaiapuni schools across the islands — 26 designated Kaiapuni schools and seven public charter schools. It has seen a 67% increase in enrollment in the last 10 years, putting the total number of students at just over 2,600.
The program plans to open two new locations next school year, but leaders like Kauʻi Sang, the director of the Office of Hawaiian Education, said there is not enough funding or staff to support them.
“This growth represents both our greatest success and our most pressing operational challenges,” Sang said.
“Every one of these students represents a need for qualified kumu, for curriculum resources, and for classroom space. We're at a point now where we're trying to figure out how to balance this new growth and also stabilize the existing schools that are already offering Kaiapuni education.”
Many testifiers are urging the state Board of Education to give the program enough funding to expand locations and increase staff, while others are pushing for more transparency about the waitlist for each school’s program so that parents can know the likelihood of their child getting in.
Sang believes the proper guidelines and framework for Kaiapuni education systems should be built based on the end goal of having culturally grounded and academically informed graduates.
“We want students who have the ability to navigate both local and global communities with confidence in every decision they make. If a policy or a resource doesn't help us to produce this graduate, we must rethink it,” Sang said.
“From a Hawaiian perspective, this ensures our students are meeting rigorous academic standards through content that validates their worldview, rather than constantly struggling with translated concepts that may not align with reality.”
Sang added that there is also a need for transportation accommodations, as many families have to drive further distances to get to a Kaiapuni school versus the local English-medium school.
