Public Education

 

Building the Schools—and Futures—Our Keiki Deserve 

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Our keiki are Hawaiʻi’s future, yet too many still learn in overheated classrooms, aging facilities, and environments where creativity, curiosity, and cultural learning are displaced by hours of standardized testing. Teachers who nurture our children’s brilliance are often forced to take on second or third jobs because their salaries do not match Hawaiʻi’s cost of living. And across our entire education system—from preschool through higher education—too many students struggle to meet their basic needs.

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As a former public school teacher, Vice Chair of the House Education Committee, and Chair of Higher Education, I have worked to deliver the schools our keiki deserve by expanding rich, culturally grounded curricula; reducing the overreliance on standardized testing; and securing resources for special education, vocational training, and Native Hawaiian cultural programs. I have fought to modernize facilities, improve school safety, and strengthen the mental health supports that help keiki learn and thrive.

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But a Hawaiʻi our keiki deserve also means ensuring that every young person — not just those inside traditional classrooms — is safe, supported, and cared for. That’s why I have been a strong advocate for reforming Child Welfare Services to improve transparency, accountability, and outcomes for children who are at the highest risk of harm. I believe our state has a moral responsibility to protect keiki who have been separated from their families, and to ensure that every placement, service, and decision reflects compassion, stability, cultural connection, and long-term well-being.

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Similarly, my work on juvenile justice reform is grounded in the understanding that our young people deserve healing, opportunity, and dignity — not systems that punish trauma with more trauma. I have pushed for approaches rooted in restorative justice, community-based alternatives, educational continuity, and culturally grounded supports that recognize the potential in every child. Young people should have pathways to rejoin their communities, continue their education, and build healthy, hopeful futures.

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A Hawaiʻi our keiki deserve must also include strong and accessible higher education. I am committed to expanding the Hawaiʻi Promise Program to the four-year UH campuses and making community college fully free, so no young person is denied opportunity because of cost. I have pushed for addressing college students’ basic needs — food security, housing, childcare, and mental health — and for stronger campus safety measures, clear reporting structures, and trauma-informed supports.

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From early learning through higher education, from foster care to juvenile justice, I believe in investing in the full lives and futures of Hawaiʻi’s young people. That means supporting excellent educators with professional pay, modernizing school facilities, expanding place-based and climate literacy education, and ensuring that every system that touches a child’s life is grounded in aloha, equity, and accountability.

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A strong, fully funded, and compassionate cradle-to-career system is the foundation of a Hawaiʻi our keiki deserve — one where every child and every young adult has the chance to learn, grow, and thrive in the islands they call home.