Question: Do I have to be working full time for my daughter to be eligible for Preschool Open Doors?
Answer: No. “Parents or guardians are not required to participate in an employment activity to receive POD services,” said Keopu Reelitz, public information officer for the state Department of Human Services, which administers the program promoting school readiness for lower-income Hawaii youngsters.
Preschool Open Doors provides monthly tuition subsidies to a DHS-licensed preschool of the family’s choice. DHS contracts with the PATCH organization to run the program.
Families must meet income-eligibility requirements for their household size, and the child must have been born between Aug. 1, 2011, and July 31, 2012, to be considered for participation for the January-June 2017 term, said Reelitz.
Applications are being accepted now through Oct. 31. For more information on Oahu, call 791-2130 or download an application at patchhawaii.org.
“POD provides children whose families might otherwise not be able to afford preschool with the opportunity to gain essential skills in preschool to be successful in school and in life,” she said.
Q: What are the monthly income limits? I’m not sure it’s even worth it to sign up since there is always a waiting list.
A: Subsidies are based on a sliding fee scale that considers a family’s size and monthly gross income and the monthly POD rate allowed for the preschool the family selects. A family of two may have a maximum monthly gross income of $3,718 to be eligible for the program, a family of three could make $4,680, a family of four $5,643 and so on. See the full chart at 808ne.ws/patchlist. Funding is limited, as you noted, so it’s unlikely that every family that meets the income guidelines will receive a subsidy.
Q: Regarding electric cars, is there a difference between a “hybrid” and “a plug-in hybrid” or are they the same thing?
A: Yes, there is a difference. The U.S. Department of Energy provides concise descriptors at 808ne.ws/EVhybrid, which we’ll condense further here:
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and all-electric vehicles (EVs) are collectively known as electric-drive vehicles.
>>Hybrid electric vehicles are primarily powered by an internal combustion engine that runs on conventional or alternative fuel and an electric motor that uses energy stored in a battery. Braking and internal combustion engine charge the battery; it is not plugged in to charge.
>>Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles are powered by an internal combustion engine that can run on conventional or alternative fuel and an electric motor that uses energy stored in a battery. The vehicle can be plugged into an electric power source to charge the battery. Some can travel more than 70 miles on electricity alone, and all can operate solely on gasoline (similar to a conventional hybrid).
>>All-Electric Vehicles use a battery to store the electric energy that powers the motor. EV batteries are charged by plugging the vehicle into an electric power source. EVs are sometimes referred to as battery electric vehicles (BEVs).
Hawaii law provides various incentives for the use of electric vehicles, which the statute defines as:
1) a neighborhood electric vehicle, or
2) “a vehicle, with four or more wheels, that draws propulsion energy from a battery with at least four kilowatt hours of energy storage capacity that can be recharged from an external source of electricity.”
Therefore — to address another common Kokua Line question — of the three types of electric vehicles described on the energy department site, only the plug-in hybrid or all-electric vehicle would qualify for the special electric vehicle license plate issued under Hawaii law.
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
