State expanding free preschool options at public schools

HONOLULU — The state is expanding free preschool programs at public elementary schools on four islands.

The new pre-kindergarten classes are available at Kalihi Uka Elementary and Kailua Elementary on Oahu, Kilohana Elementary on Molokai, Kohala Elementary on Hawaii Island and Kula Elementary on Maui.

This year is the first expansion.

Families with lower incomes will be given priority, but others will be allowed, including students outside the school districts.

There will be 20 students per classroom, and there is space for 520 kids in 26 classrooms statewide this year.

The new classes mean there are now 24 campuses with preschool supported by the state Executive Office on Early Learning, which was created in 2012 and launched public prekindergarten in 2014.

Less than half of Hawaii’s 3- and 4-year-old children attend preschool or nursery school, according to the 2018 KIDS COUNT Databook.

The average yearly price for full-time preschool tuition is $9,500, or nearly $800 a month, according to the University of Hawaii Center on the Family. That’s nearly the equivalent of in-state tuition at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

The state-funded program is separate from the federally funded Head Start program for disadvantaged children and public preschool for students with special needs.