Hawaii HB 626: RELATING TO EDUCATION.

Bill Text

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO EDUCATION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
1 SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the department of
2 education’s Ho’ãkea: Mauka to Makai Navigating our Future Program
3 is designed to educate students by integrating core educational
4 concepts in math, science, social studies, civics, leadership,
5 language, and literacy with cultural practices and traditions in
6 ‘ama and community settings. Lesson plans also integrate
7 environmental stewardship, climate change, native Hawaiian
8 practices, responsibility to care for community, total
9 well-being, and a sense of place.
10 The legislature further finds that students become more
11 engaged and curious when educational content is relevant to
12 their home and culture. In addition, indigenous knowledge and
13 practices are a key source to understanding climate change
14 because they provide a deep understanding of local ecosystems.
15 Indigenous knowledge can include early warning signs of
16 environmental shifts and offer valuable knowledge on sustainable
17 land management practices developed through generations of
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1 living in harmony with nature, allowing for more effective
2 adaptation and mitigation strategies against climate change
3 impacts.
4 The legislature also finds that Polynesian and native
5 Hawaiian students have a longstanding, disproportionately high
6 rate of absenteeism and lower educational achievement.
7 Recognizing that the board of education formally adopted Na
8 Hopena A’o (HA) as a policy in 2015, the department of education
9 has prioritized HA in its current strategic plan. By making
10 educational material more relevant and engaging, creating
11 conditions that make students feel safe, and honoring their
12 heritage and culture, students will naturally be more engaged
13 and excited about learning. By creating a HA environment for
14 learning in this way, the department of education believes that
15 graduates will be prepared not only for college and careers, but
16 also for community and civic engagement. The department
17 believes these lessons will endure as students become leaders,
18 stewards, and critical thinkers when they graduate and begin
19 navigating the world.
20 The legislature notes that the Polynesian Voyaging Society
21 and the ‘ohana of wa’a were established as organizations with
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1 educational missions to engage students in learning through
2 voyaging. Recognizing that most Pacific Islander and native
3 Hawaiian students attend public schools, and responding to
4 demand by department of education educators and principals to
5 incorporate authentic learning experiences like wa’a and ‘ama,
6 the department of education has partnered with these
7 organizations to start its own program, called Ho’ãkea, for
8 department schools.
9 The legislature further notes that over the past two years,
10 the department of education has partnered with the ‘ohana of wa’a
11 and ‘ama organizations, located in communities where department
12 schools are located, to design and deliver engaging, rigorous,
13 authentic learning experiences for the department’s students in
14 a number of ways. The first way includes Ho’äkea, which connects
15 students and teachers with their community’s wa’a and local ‘ama
16 organizations to teach Hawaiian navigation and voyaging,
17 mo’olelo, or stories, and history. The second way includes
18 student—focused authentic learning experiences that occur in
19 spaces outside the formal classroom setting and out-of-school
20 time such as after school or during the summer, spring, and
21 winter breaks. These experiences further reinforce traditional
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1 classroom work with authentic real world situations out in the
2 community. The third way includes teacher-focused professional
3 development opportunities to connect lesson plans in ama-based
4 settings.
5 The legislature recognizes that thus far, the Ho’ãkea
6 program has reached over three thousand two hundred students and
7 nearly one thousand three hundred teachers and engaged more than
8 fifty organizations across the State. There is increasing
9 demand from schools for ama-based learning experiences that the
10 department of education cannot meet with existing resources.
11 The department believes that with sufficient funding provided in
12 this Act, the department can triple engagement by 2027.
13 The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the
14 department of education to expand the department’s Ho’äkea
15 program.
16 SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general
17 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $3,500,000 or so much
18 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2025-2026 and the
19 same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary