State government MUST do better at supporting and improving public education in Hawai'i!
I serve as a member of the House Committee on Education (EDN) and as Vice Chair of Higher Education (HED). There is no better investment we can make than in our education. Yet Hawaii faces a chronic teacher shortage, with hundreds of unfilled positions driven by high turnover rates, high cost of living, with teacher salaries being the lowest in the country when adjusted for living expenses. This is unacceptable and damages our economy and our society.
We can/must improve our K-12 education system by:
- Supporting teacher housing with tax breaks
- Expanding the teacher workforce with free college degrees for those who stay in HI
- Giving teachers ,classrooms and students basic supplies
- Feeding all students breakfast and lunch for free
- Codifying giving teachers raises at minimum geared to cost of living index
- Expanding LG Luke's outstanding “Ready Keiki” preschool program
- Protecting teachers collective bargaining rights (DOE abused this during covid)
- DOE needs to fix its broken procurement and repair and maintenance system
In my district the groundbreaking for the long needed Kūlanihākoʻi High School in Kīhei took place on January 11, 2016. It is time for DOE to finish building it along and for DOE and DOT to follow the law and implement the LUC legally mandated Grade Separated Pedestrian Crossing before a student dies crossing our highway. Going to school should not be a game of frogger!
Higher Education:
35 states offer some form of tuition-free community college. As the Vice Chair of Higher Education I want to see free community college to help diversify our economy and to help our families and workers rise. UHMC (Maui) has only 4 in person Bachelors degrees, yet generates a large fraction of GET and other taxes. It’s time that we have equity for neighbor islands, not lip service without corrective action from an unresponsive university leadership.
UH is the ONLY university in Hawai’i that does not have mandatory Title IX training to educate all students and employees on preventing, identifying, and reporting sexual harassment, discrimination and assault. The ONLY university! While assaults continue and DEI is under attack nationally, we must stand up locally against those who would victimize vulnerable members of society.
The number of complaints unprocessed at UH is astounding. Lets not sweep this sexual violence epidemic under the rug like the Epstein files. It is time for UH leadership to protect its students instead of making excuses.