A new preschool serving about 80 children between 3 and 4 years old will be built on the campus of the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo.

Proponents said the preschool will offer a variety of benefits, including affordable child care for University of Hawaii-Hilo students, workforce development for new teachers, and meeting the demand for more early childhood education taught in the Hawaiian language.

State Sen. Lorraine Inouye of Hilo recently announced the release of $10 million to the Hawaii School Facilities Authority (SFA) for the pre-kindergarten program at ‘Imiloa, recognizing “how important it is to help working families and individuals continue and advance their education with access to child care.”

Douglas Cullison, SFA’s pre-kindergarten programs manager, attested to the program’s value from personal experience, saying that “having the option to send my children to preschool has been key to my family’s ability to survive in Hawaii. We are a dual-income family and would not be able to afford to live here without child care. The facility SFA is building will help families that cannot afford private child care.”

SFA, a state agency established by the state Department of Education in 2020 to expand opportunities for preschools, was awarded a lump sum of $100 million last year from the state to support more early education options, Cullison said, and the $10 million for the ‘Imiloa program is a portion from that allotment.

Cullison said SFA, which is primarily responsible for the construction of such facilities, worked in tandem with the the University of Hawaii, the Executive Office of Early Learning and the state Public Charter School Commission, which brought in the Hawaiian-immersion charter school and the preschool provider that will together serve the children’s needs at the new site.

Deanne Goya, SPCSC’s early learning program director, said the planning behind the ‘Imiloa site has been going on for “over a year” between the ‘Imiloa, the state departments, the architects who will build the facility, and Ke Kula‘o Nawahiokalani‘opu‘u Laboratory Public Charter School, a K-12 Hawaiian language immersion school that has been serving Keaau for over 30 years.

Aha Punana Leo, a Hawaiian language preschool in Hilo since 1985, also has been involved since the inception of the plan, and will be providing extended care for children who are at the site outside of the school hours of 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Goya said.

“That’s the beauty of the partnership: We can offer a full day of care for the children,” said ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center Executive Director Ka‘iu Kimura, who said that between Aha Punana Leo and the Nawahiokalani‘opu‘u charter school the children will be cared for from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week.

Kimura also serves as director of Ka Haka ‘Ula o Ke‘elikolani, UH Hilo’s College of Hawaiian Language, and said that in addition to providing crucial early education and child care, the new preschool is “part of a bigger movement to return Hawaiian as the language of the state.”

The free pre-K program will take place in four classrooms that will have classes of 20 students each, with one teacher and one teacher’s assistant per room, Goya said.

Goya said the site’s close proximity to UH Hilo’s Kahuawaiola Indigenous Teacher Education will allow it to “serve as a convenient workforce development site allowing future teachers to have coursework and practicum experience.”

The build-out for the classrooms is still in the final design phases, but it is expected to be between 3,700 and 5,000 square feet and will be built in the overflow parking area east of ‘Imiloa, Cullison said.

Cullison said SFA’s goals are to begin construction “no later than summer 2026,” with the completion goal date being July 31, 2027, just in time to welcome students for the 2027-28 school year.