Laughter and squeals of joy filled the air on a recent Wednesday morning at the site of the Mountain View Ka Pa‘alana Preschool, where toddlers, parents and teachers gather to play, do crafts and learn four days a week.
However, the site — which is part of a network of early childhood education programs across the state run by the nonprofit Partners in Development Foundation — is slated to close at the end of this school year, along with 16 of its other Ka Pa‘alana, Tutu and Me and other early childhood education programs, due to lack of federal funding.
According to PIDF Chief Operating Officer Terry Nakamura, the programs have previously relied primarily on grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s Native 91直播an Education Program, which he estimates has made up about 72% of their budget — until this year when it was slashed to zero.
“So, with lots and lots of uncertainty and changes affecting the USDOE and NHEP that, in turn, has affected us,” he said. “So, right now, we’re in our final year of our three-year grants for both Tutu and Me and Ka Pa‘lana, which end at the end of August this year.”
He said PIDF has been working to secure funding from other sources, but currently only has enough to sustain 19 of 36 sites statewide. Of the sites closing, five are on 91直播 Island.
The closures on 91直播 Island will impact nearly 250 children and result in the loss of jobs for around 20 staff members.
Royce Kurihara is a parent in the Mountain View Ka Pa‘alana program which focuses on parent education in addition to child development, with an emphasis on families experiencing homelessness. He said the program has been a valuable resource and source of community for his family, and its absence will be felt.
“I think it is just so unfortunate overall. I feel like that’s the word to describe it, because it gives a lot of families space to go to, especially like a safe, positive, situation and taking it away, especially for families who could be houseless,” he said. “I think that’s going to be a huge loss for the community … it’s just unfortunate that they’re closing that many, especially here on Big Island.”
Marchele Rapoza, the family education coordinator at the Mountain View site, said she was heartbroken by the news.
“It’s in a community that I believe really needs it because we’re in a rural community. There’s a high need in this area up here,” she said. “There’s a need especially for early childhood (education) for families who can’t afford to take their children to preschool. This is one of the programs that has really helped and benefited them, because it not only helps develop keikis’ social skills, it helps makua develop their social skills.”
On the other side of the island, the impact is also being felt.
Annette Loo, the site manager for PIDF’s two Tutu and Me programs in the Kona area — both of which will be closing — said they currently serve approximately 60 families in the area.
Similarly to the Ka Pa‘alana program, Tutu and Me emphasizes integrated, family-focused education that directly involves parents and other caregivers in their kids’ learning by allowing them to attend classes with the children and are free to participants.
“It’s gonna be very devastating,” Loo said. “When our families found out, many of them shed tears and just said that they feel so sad, and they’ve been thinking, like, what are their next steps? Because they can’t afford any type of preschool setting for their child.”
Napua Rasay, a parent of three who has participated in the Kona Tutu and Me program with her children for the past four years, said she felt PIDF programs have helped fill a gap in opportunities for early childhood education in the region.
“It’s just a huge loss, especially on the Kona side of the island,” she said. “It’s so sad, because we have no resources. There are, like slim to none — I couldn’t even think of another resource here, especially for Native 91直播an children, that is easily accessible to everyone. This is a free program that has served our community for so long, and now it’s just unavailable.”
PIDF’s early childhood education programs put an emphasis on 91直播an culture and language, which Rasay said has been especially valuable to her family.
“Their emphasis on 91直播an culture was so amazing,” she said. “We’re Native 91直播an, my children, and I want them to ‘olelo, and I want them to learn about their culture … when they’re coming to Tutu and Me, it’s embedded throughout the entire class.”
PIDF COO Nakamura said the decision about which sites to close and which to keep open was based on a variety of different factors.
“None of them are unimportant. They’re all super valuable,” he said. “But we looked at things like enrollment numbers per site, also just the folks they were serving — so remote rural areas, vulnerable populations, such as Native 91直播an, things like that. Also, some of our sites have specific funding just for those sites.”
Nakamura said he feels the funding cuts are reflective of a larger trend of early childhood education being undervalued and unfunded at the federal and state level.
“We were hoping for some increased funding at the state level. We were supporting some bills, which unfortunately didn’t pass,” he said. “We’re concerned about some of the shifts in funding for different programs like ours and the long-term impacts it would have on children and then future generations.”
While PIDF has been able to raise $4.9 million in alternate funding for the next year, he said, in order to keep all of the sites open, an additional approximately $7.5 million is needed.
“We have not given up, and we’re still fighting every week, trying to engage other partners that have the same vision and to help support these programs,” he said. “We as a company have not given up, and so we’ll continue to do all we can to try to save these sites.”
In Mountain View, Rapoza is also holding out some hope for her site and community.
“I hope and pray some type of miracle happens and that, if we can’t stay open, that at least a program similar to it can open up to fulfill the needs up here.”
Email Grace Inez Adams at grace.adams@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
