Former Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona said Thursday that he supports an Early College program that would help set low-income public school students on paths toward college and business careers.

The Republican candidate for governor said the initiative would initially involve about 300 low-income students at pilot high schools who would be placed on tracks to earn high school diplomas and associate’s degrees from community colleges while receiving mentorship from sponsoring businesses. He envisions that businesses, foundations and the federal government would pay the bulk of the costs.

Aiona, at a news conference at his campaign headquarters off Nimitz Highway, said an Early College program would "help our students to basically earn a livable wage through a pathway to a career, and also allow our businesses here locally to get that qualified, educated workforce that they need."

Aiona, who is facing state Sen. David Ige, a Democrat, and former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, a Hawaii Independent Party candidate, was not ready to announce key details of his plan, such as the partnerships with the private sector or the total estimated cost to the state. But he said the program would be modeled on several successful Early College programs on the mainland.

Educators in Hawaii have set a target of having 55 percent of working-age adults with two- or four-year college degrees by 2025, up from around 43 percent today.

Researchers have estimated that 65 percent of the jobs in Hawaii will require some college education by 2018.

The state, though federally funded initiatives such as GEAR UP, is working to better prepare low-income middle school and high school students for college and careers. In the Jump Start program, for example, high school seniors have the opportunity to get vocational and technical education at college campuses. The students are able to earn dual credits toward high school and college diplomas.

The Hawai’i P-20 Partnerships in Education has also received a grant from the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation to develop Early College programs at public high schools.

The grants will be available to so-called "planning schools" — schools that have not offered dual credit courses or have low student participation in dual credit courses — and "expansion schools," schools that have offered at least two dual credit courses over the past three years.

Jim Shon, a former state lawmaker and education researcher, said a drawback to many education reform ideas is a lack of detail about structure, cost and which entity is ultimately responsible for student performance.

"What you really have is a lot of aspirations without structural means to pull it off in a major way," he said.