Despite a two-year wait to fully launch Hawaii’s first public stipend program for early-childhood educators, state officials are hopeful that it will make big strides toward solving a chronic and severe shortage of teachers and caregivers for keiki ages 0 to 5.
The Early Childhood Educator Stipend Program was authorized in the 2021 Legislature but wasn’t funded by the state until it received $660,000 in this year’s session. The program will provide stipends to eligible University of Hawaii students enrolled in a certificate, degree or license program in early childhood education.
Stipend amounts will vary by campus and program, ranging from $393 per class for recipients attending UH community colleges, for example, to $1,950 per class for graduate students at UH Manoa.
The catch is that after each recipient finishes their program, they must complete two consecutive years working in a qualifying early-learning school or setting. “Stipend awardees who keep this commitment will pay nothing back,” the program’s website says. If the work commitment is not fulfilled, the recipient must pay back the stipend amount.
Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who heads the state’s Ready Keiki preschool initiative to build or renovate 465 preschool classrooms by 2034, said at a news conference Thursday that boosting the pipeline of early-learning teachers and caregivers quickly is crucial if the state is to overcome the educator shortage and reach its goal of providing preschool access for all of Hawaii’s 3- and 4-year-olds by 2034.
“It’s not enough that we provide preschool seats. What we need is to make sure that we have the workforce,” Luke said.
The state already typically suffers a shortage of about 1,200 teachers each year in the K-12 grades, Gov. Josh Green said in a separate news conference this week. The National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the country, estimates the U.S. as a whole is short about 300,000 teachers and support staff.
Low pay in early-learning settings has made recruitment and retention in that sector extra challenging. The annual mean wage for Hawaii preschool teachers with an associate’s degree ranges from $38,140 to $55,960, according to federal data. Hawaii child care workers with a high school diploma or equivalent earn $25,720 to $29,710 on average.
However, state officials have said that as public preschool teachers with bachelor’s degrees are hired, they are being covered by the collective bargaining agreement between the state and the Hawaii State Teachers Association. The average salary of a Hawaii public school teacher in grades K-12 in 2020-2021 was $70,922, according to National Education Association data.
The stipend program is presented by the state Executive Office of Early Learning and UH, in partnership with funding from the Samuel N. and Mary Castle Foundation, which provided $100,000 in seed funding.
The Executive Office on Early Learning, which administers the program, “envisions that every child in Hawaii has access to high-quality early-childhood development and learning experiences, which lay the foundation for lifelong well-being,” Director Yuuko Arikawa-Cross said in the news conference at the UH Manoa Children’s Center.
“We know that thoughtful and committed educators create these environments where children can thrive,” she continued. “These collective efforts will expand early learning opportunities for young children and their families by supporting the recruitment and retention of the early-learning workforce.”
The Early Childhood Educator Stipend Program was established by Act 210 in the 2021 Legislature but was not funded at the time. In response to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser question asking the reason for the two-year space between enactment and implementation, the Executive Office on Early Learning said in an email that it “represents the practical logistics of determining how to administer a program that is consistent with the requirements and framework of Act 210.” An initial 10 participants completed a pilot program this summer.
The program does not support all education related costs, only the cost of tuition associated with classwork connected to a recipient’s early-learning degree or program of study, the Executive Office on Early Learning said.
Early Childhood Educator Stipend Program
Current and prospective educators enrolled in a certificate, degree or license program in early childhood education within the University of Hawaii system may apply for the state’s Early Childhood Educator Stipend Program. Recipients who work two years in qualified early-learning settings pay nothing back.
>> Participating campuses: UH Hilo (Hawaiian and Indigenous Language Medium Early Education Certificate), Hawaii Community College, UH Maui College, UH Manoa, UH West Oahu, Honolulu Community College, Kauai Community College
>> Deadlines: July 15 for this fall, Dec. 1 for spring 2024, April 15 for summer 2024
>> For more information and to apply: Go to 808ne.ws/3PI3rMb.
