Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 1, 1 January 2002 — Kamehameha moves forward [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kamehameha moves forward

In a Dec. 18 press conference, Kamehameha Schools officially launched their landmark outreach effort to provide quality early education services to Hawaiian children. Trust officials outlined concrete goals and a timetable to meet its goal of serving 11,000 children in five years, and all of the state's 30,000 Native Hawaiian preschoolers within 15 years. The plan will enable Kamehameha to serve more than the students attending its three K-12 campuses on O'ahu, Maui and Hawai'i, who represent just 3 percent of children of Hawaiian ancestry, officials said. The estate will employ an array of strategies to attain its ambitious goal, including providing early education scholarships that parents ean use like vouchers at accredited preschool programs and running some of the state's new Pre-Plus preschools. Kamehameha will also partner with others, including the state Department of Education, OHA, ali'i and private non-Hawaiian trusts, to upgrade the quality of certain public schools with large enrollments of Native Hawaiian students, such as Waimānalo and Nānakuli, as a way to reach the vast majority of Hawaiian students statewide. Since those schools also include non-Hawaiian students, Kamehameha's new plan represents the first time the estate will be extending educational opportunities for non-Hawaiians. "Our intent is to do all we ean to help Hawaiians, but non-Hawaiians also will

benefit," McCubbin said. "It's a win-win for everyone." Kamehameha's actions were roundly praised by educators well aware of the enormous benefits to early education. "All thebrain research says, 'Start young,'" said Chief Executive Officer Hamilton McCubbin. Dr. Lilikalā Kame'eleihiwa, Director of the Center for Hawaiian Studies, UH-Mānoa, agreed, "As we all know, many Hawaiian children start out behind because they don't have reading skills and they are living in poverty, and if we don't do the early education, they are behind forever." Some school administrators and parents expressed fears that, with the new infusion of resources, that the DOE will divert funds elsewhere, or that tuition for students attending Kamehameha's three campuses will be raised. Manu Kai'ama, director of the Native Hawaiian Leadership Project, who attended the press conferenee, asked if it were legal to use the estate money for non-Hawaiians. Attorney Roy Benham, a Kamehameha alumnae, said that while Princess Bemice Pauahi Bishop, whose will founded the school in 1887, intended to help her people, her will did not specifically exclude non-Hawaiians. The plan is the result of a massive three-year strategic planning process involving Kamehameha staff and alumni, Hawaiians statewide and on the mainland, intended to chart the estate's course for the next 15 years. ■