State ramps up plan to add more pre-K classrooms across the Islands

The Ready Keiki initiative is gearing up to deliver more access to free, public preschool in Isle communities.

Come August, 25 classrooms will open across four islands for students ages 3 and 4 under the Executive Office on Early Learning’s (EOEL) Public Pre-Kindergarten Program, it was announced June 17. By August 2026, 50 public pre-K classrooms will have opened statewide, adding 1,000 new seats, for a total of more than 2,700 seats.

Applications for the program during the 2025–26 school year are now open at earlylearning.ehawaii.gov. For more information, families can contact EOEL at 808-784-5350.

Kalihi Elementary Principal John Hamilton said this is a “wonderful opportunity” for families facing barriers to education. He added, “Ninety percent of our families are challenged financially and because of that, for them, preschool is out of reach."

The benefit? “Parents can return back to the workforce,” he said, adding that they can be assured their kids are learning – teaching them at an early age to be independent and mature socially and emotionally in a language rich environment. “It has the power to change the trajectory of their lives.”

According to Hamilton, one of the values of the school is to help its students “grow well.”

Kalihi Elementary’s vision statement reads, “Strengthen Our Community: Develop productive citizens, equipped with the skills needed to thrive in an ever-changing world.”

“Our goal is to invest in our keiki, be able to support them and make sure that they thrive in elementary school, middle school, high school and beyond,” he continued. “It’s not very often schools get to live their vision, but I think we can do just that here.”

Yesterday, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and EOEL Director Yuuko Arikawa-Cross held a joint press conference at Kalihi Elementary School, thanking partners in the government, DOE, nonprofit and for-profit sectors.

The overall goal of the state’s plan is “to provide universal access to pre-kindergarten for all Hawaiʻi families by 2032, according to Luke.

“For the Ready Keiki Initiative to be successful, it’s about … ensuring we have the workforce we need,” she said. “Every child is so important. Just because there’s no preschool by their house … that shouldn’t be a barrier for kids to succeed. It’s our collective responsibility to ensure that every child can succeed.”

Arikawa-Cross shared that each pre-K classroom is staffed with one teacher and one education assistant. Teacher recruitment wasn’t an issue last year, she said. In partnership with Kamehameha Schools and Chaminade University, EOEL has utilized The Muʻo Scholarship program to incentivize local childhood educators.

EOEL Public Pre-K program is 100% state funded, Arikawa-Cross said, adding that impacts from the federal level are still to be determined.

The cost to build out each classroom is between $291,000 and $320,000 on average. The initial budget was $1 million per site, she said, adding that EOEL’s reoccurring budget is more than $8 million.

With the excess in budget, Luke teased that the state is now even looking at introducing Ready Keiki in non-school facilities like libraries. She said partnership, volunteers and innovation have been the key drivers to opening more preschool seats.

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.