SR 78: Encouraging the Department of Education to Expand the Hawaiian IMMERSION Program.

SENATE RESOLUTION

Encouraging the Department of Education to Expand the Hawaiian IMMERSION Program.

     WHEREAS, Ka Papahana Kaiapuni immersion schools provide kindergarten through twelfth grade Hawaiian language education to develop the Kaiapuni lens connecting future generations with Hawaiian ways of knowing and being; and

     WHEREAS, the Department of Education has experienced significant growth in the demand for Hawaiian language immersion education offered in Ka Papahana Kaiapuni schools; and

     WHEREAS, enrollment for Ka Papahana Kaiapuni schools has grown by approximately one thousand four hundred students over the past decade; and

     WHEREAS, resources dedicated to supporting Ka Papahana Kaiapuni education programing have consistently declined despite the growing demand; and

     WHEREAS, a longstanding issue that continues to impede the success and growth of Hawaiian immersion schools is the shortage of qualified teachers; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2026, that the Department of Education is encouraged to work with the Office of Hawaiian Education to expand Kaiapuni immersion in Department of Education schools and create pathways for teachers based on funding availability; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is encouraged to work with the Office of Hawaiian Education to give consideration for kindergarten through twelfth grade level instruction in a continuum of complex districts based on data analysis of needs; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Education and Superintendent of Education.

Report Title: 

DOE; OHE; K-12; Ka Papahana Kaiapuni; Hawaiian Immersion Programs