Geneva Esguerra and her colleagues mobilized students, community to stop $1.7 million budget cut
Updated: December 18, 2024
While most high school kids look forward to spending Halloween dressing up in costumes, students from Mililani High School’s theatre arts academy instead boarded buses to the Hawaiʻi Board of Education to make their voices heard, thanks in part to their teacher’s advocacy.
Geneva Esguerra, an acting and play production teacher at the Central Theatre Arts Academy based at Mililani High, helped spearhead a successful campaign to stop the BOE from approving the slashing of $1.7 million from the budget for statewide learning center programs, including performing arts, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), agriculture, and business programs.
Esguerra also worked with Elizabeth Baker, ʻIlima Intermediate chorus teacher and co-coordinator of the Central Theatre Arts Academy, and John Sandvig, a member of the Mililani Science Learning Center program coordinator team.
Esguerra has been involved in the Central Theatre Arts Academy for more than two decades, first as a student and now as a teacher. The Hawaiʻi State Department of Education threatened the program when it proposed shifting the responsibility for 29 learning centers from the state level to the school level. Subsidies provided by the state office for nearly four decades would have been phased out.
“I was completely blindsided,” Esguerra said when she found out about the proposed budget cut, only three days ahead of the board’s meeting to approve it.
“I’ve never felt so helpless before. The thought that our program that had been in place since 1995, a program that I had been a part of as a high school student, that I then returned to support as a staff member and then coordinator of…a program that I had been a part of for over 20 years would just disappear left me struggling to even comprehend it all.”
Learning center programs like the one Esguerra runs serve not just Mililani High School, but a broad community of students from across the state. Esguerra’s program provides students from all over Hawaiʻi with access to advanced theatre arts training and performances, a safe space for creativity, and a strong sense of community.
She and her co-coordinator Baker felt that saving the program, and others across the state with such short notice felt futile, but that they had to “speak out and make ourselves heard.”
Mobilizing students, the community toward action
With just three days to organize a plea to the BOE to save learning center program funding, Esguerra and Baker informed students and began rallying the greater community to help support the cause.
Esguerra, Baker, and students organized an informational campaign that leveraged social media to tell the community about the budget cuts and encourage people to submit testimony.
“We knew we had to get the word out. Our students, who have always been passionate about the program, were ready to mobilize,” Esguerra explained. “They created posts, shared information, and organized the community to submit written testimony in support of the program.”
As much as she knew written testimonies help, Esguerra believed the power of oral testimony would move the needle on the issue.
The students prepared oral testimony to present at the BOE meeting, which was to take place on Halloween. Esguerra helped her students craft heartfelt messages, encouraging them to focus not on the injustice of the situation, but on the value and importance of the programs they loved.
“I told them that it’s because of them that these programs exist, so their voice is what matters most. With that, our students crafted heartfelt testimonials that argued not only for their own educational opportunities, but those of future generations.”
An emergency field trip on Halloween
On Halloween, Esguerra, her colleagues, and a group of students boarded two buses headed for the BOE meeting. The teachers organized the logistics of the “emergency field trip,” including securing parental permission slips, in just 24 hours.
“My principal and school staff were amazing. They understood how important this fight was, and they helped me organize the trip at the last minute,” Esguerra said. “With only one day’s notice, we made it happen.”
At the BOE meeting, the students presented powerful testimonials, sharing how the learning center programs had shaped their lives, built their confidence, and provided a safe space for them to express themselves. For many of them, the programs were a lifeline.
In all, the teachers, students, and community allies were able to get over 1,200 written pieces testimony in three days. At the meeting, students and supporters filled every seat in the room as well as the hallway outside.
“We had so many testimonials and such a big pushback that the BOE had noted their decision to redact the budget line that took funds away from learning centers even before our testimonials began,” Esguerra said.
The BOE’s action saved the Central Theatre Arts Academy program, and many similar programs across Hawaiʻi.
She said, “When the verdict was read, and we were successful, it was as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Hearing the cheers of our students who filled the room, with many more other learning center supporters who overflowed into the meeting hallway, was validation of why we fought as hard as we did. This verdict was meaningful to them. This victory was for them and future generations of our programs.”
The show must go on: looking forward to the future
Esguerra said that the sad reality is that performing arts funding is usually the first on the chopping block when cuts happen. Luckily, the arts and theatre community in Hawaiʻi is very tight knit.
“We all understand how vulnerable arts programs can be because making art can be expensive. Theatre is expensive, but it’s important. So when we see arts programs in danger, we show up and support to the best of our abilities,” she said.
She recognizes that it wasn’t only the arts program that was in danger, but a diverse set of programs meant to enrich the lives of students.
“Due to this diversity, when we sent our SOS, we got support from all over,” she said.
Now that the program is safe from budget cuts for the foreseeable future, Esguerra looks forward to the academy’s next big act: a production of Hadestown: Teen Edition.
With two show weekends in December, community members can attend their shows to support the program.
Show dates are Dec. 6, 7, 13, and 14 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 14 and 15 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for HIDOE staff and students. You can buy tickets here.
“It’s a crazy feeling to be in production, then halt everything for three days to save our program, and jump right into business as usual,” Esguerra said. “But the show must go on.”
