Ready Keiki, a plan to greatly expand free public preschools in Hawaii, appears to be off to a flying start.

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke told the Star-Advertiser this week that the state remains on track to open 11 free preschool classrooms this August — seven on Oahu, two on Maui, one on Hawaii island and one on Kauai — within budget and ahead of schedule.

Each classroom would hold 20 students ages 3 and 4 and cost about $500,000. The money comes from $5.5 million released by Gov. David Ige before he left office in December, and is part of $200 million approved by the Legislature last year.

“We’re trying to set an example of how state government can be,” Luke said.

So far, so good. But the hardest work is still to come. There are an estimated 9,297 children currently underserved. The state plans to create 465 new and renovated classrooms to meet the need, which is especially acute among low-income families in rural areas.

This will be trickier than it sounds. These public preschools must offer many things at once: Low cost, no-cost or subsidized tuition; convenience (located close to work or home); hours that allow a parent to drop off and pick up before and after work; good teachers trained in preschool education (and who don’t mind working for not a lot of money); and a Legislature that doesn’t allow needed funding to shrivel up over time.

Luke mentioned several solutions in the works that make sense. She said Ready Keiki will launch a web portal to help parents find and sign up for a conveniently located preschool. Families could be given an exemption to allow them to pick a school that’s not in their neighborhood.

Classrooms could be placed on high school and University of Hawaii campuses, providing hands-on training and experience for would-be teachers. Certification requirements could be streamlined for teachers specializing in pre-K education.

House Bill 300, modified by the Senate, includes $660,000 for the Early Childhood Educator Stipend program and more than $11 million for 162 permanent positions in early learning classrooms over the next two fiscal years, according to a Senate press release.

So yes, the groundwork is being laid, and that’s a good thing. Ready Keiki could help change the lives and fortunes of many more young children by giving them a solid foundation to succeed throughout their school years and beyond.

But can farsighted government leaders rise above short-term budget squabbles and sustain the project for future generations? We’d like them to set that example, too.