Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 3, 1 March 1992 — OHA's supplemental request for education [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA's supplemental request for education

by Trustee Abraham Aiona Vice-chair, Board of Trustees

In one of my articles last year for Ka Wai Ola O OHA, I emphasized the need for OHA to pursue additional educational programs for our young people, and that education played a major role in suc- 1 cess. Even though

OHA has an ongoing higher education scholarship program, there is a great need for programs for our keikis during their formative years. During the formulation of our Supplemental Request for FY 1992-93, special emphasis was placed on 1) education, 2) health, and 3) housing. Therefore, in OHA's requests to the state legislature we included educational programs totaling about $1 million, out of the total request of about $4.6 million. Briefly, this is a breakdown: 1. Gifted Education Program. $399,428 Grant-in-aid to the Center for Gifted and Talented Native Hawaiian Children, Na Pua No'ea, at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo. Expansion of this program to West Hawai'i,

Maui and Kaua'i will provide the opportunity for already identified students to be included in this successful 10-year program. 2. Tutorial Support $200,000 Provide funds to support school and eommu-nity-based tutorial programs for Hawaiian ehildren. The emphasis of these tutorials has been to increase grade point averages to participate in extracurricular activities. OHA has supported tutorial programs in Department of Education schools for the last six years. 3. Early Childhood Education $355,378 Provide funds to support early education programs in selected Hawaiian Homes eommunities and high Hawaiian populahon areas. a. Moloka'i Eeonomie Opportunity grant-in-aid for Moloka'i Head Start Parent Literacy Assistance Program. Parents and their youngsters would be able to attend classes together furthering their reading skills and the 'ohana concept. b. Early Childhood Education Center for Maui Department of Hawaiian Home Lands sites. Young Hawaiians, 2 to 5 years old, would be enrolled at the facility for classes in Hawaiian language and cultuse. This program would be under the supervision of a teacher, a teacher's aide, and kupuna from the area. The benefits of this program would be to give the Hawaiian youngsters a head start before

enrolling in the regular DOE school program. 4. Higher Education $50,000 Program to provide at least 25 scholarships for higher education-Merit Scholarship. Hawaiians continue to be under-represented at the university level, only 9.5 percent at the University of Hawai'i. Students who on merit alone ean be recognized for such an enrollment. In addition to the programs I have mentioned, OHA just recently approved the establishment of an educational foundation for the educational needs of our children. The board has authorized the sum of up to $10 million for this purpose with the funds to eome from entitlements and contributions. This was a very bold first step by the board. Lastly, OHA needs your help in lobbying for our supplemental budget request. Many of you know key legislators who will be making decisions in the various standing committees and on the floor of the houses. Call them, write them, and, if you ean do so, stop in to see them and ask for their help. Only through working together and making our needs known will we be able to succeed in the passage of our supplemental request and its needed programs and projects. There is a real need to "lokahi" in this effort.