They’re raising concern about federal education cuts
Posted: March 6, 2025
Teachers across the islands took action Tuesday to protect our keiki from the negative effects of potential cuts in federal education funding as part of a nationwide Protect our Kids Day of Action.
Hawaiʻi educators, many of whom wore their new, blue HSTA t-shirts, held signs and were joined by community allies after school Wednesday in Kahului, Līhuʻe, Kapaʻa, Kohala, Kona, Lānaʻi, Hilo, ʻEwa, Waiʻanae, Honolulu and elsewhere.
Chyler Imai, a business and culinary teacher at Kohala Middle, held signs with colleagues from HSTA’s Kohala Chapter on Hawaiʻi Island Tuesday.
“We are unsure of what’s gonna happen to our public school system, especially if the federal funding will not support our schools,” Imai said.
At Imai’s rural school, she said, “We have like 80 to 90% of our kids whose families are considered below the poverty line which means they get reduced free and reduced lunch and some of them actually get free bus transportation.”
She fears those basic services may get reduced and keiki will suffer if the federal government reduces funding for those programs.
President Donald Trump has said he wants to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, a move experts said could gut public education funding and disproportionately impact high-need students across the country who rely on statutorily authorized programs, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Title 1, which provides funding for low-income families.
An order to dismantle the U.S. DOE would require congressional approval; any proposed legislation would likely fail without 60 Senate votes.
The Hawaiʻi State Department of Education receives close to 11% of its annual funding from the federal government.
The U.S. DOE provides Hawaiʻi nearly $52 million a year in Title 1 funding, helping more than 96,000 of our most vulnerable students with vital funding to hire teachers and support staff. Losing federal dollars would further exacerbate the educator shortages plaguing Hawaiʻi public schools, causing students’ class sizes to balloon.
The federal education department also supports almost 20,000 Hawaiʻi students with special needs with nearly $38 million in funding every year.
Shannon Garan, who is Honolulu chapter president, an English learner coordinator and teacher at Linapuni Elementary, joined fellow members of HSTA’s Honolulu Chapter outside McKinley High.
“I’m very concerned for us in the state of Hawaii about a potentially substantial loss in funding. I teach at a Title 1 school in Kalihi within a housing development. We can’t provide our students basic services without the Title 1 funding or Title 3 funding. I just feel like our kids are going to lose a lot, not just my students, but kids in general in the state of Hawaii,” Garan said.
Jasmine Mathew, a chemistry and botany teacher at Kaiser High, worries that federal cuts will harm her students.
“We may not have the materials that we need to teach better so our students can be competitive in the world, for our students to be able to reach their highest potential in every which way, from the arts to math and science, English, social studies, all the core subjects, but also, PE and art and music and the things that all of our young people need,” Mathew said.
Members of HSTA’s Leeward Chapter gathered at two locations: outside Waiʻanae High and near Queen’s Medical Center – West Oʻahu.
“We need to do something, because our students deserve better, especially since they are literally the future of the entire world,” said Cailee Andres, who teaches second grade at Mākaha Elementary.
“We definitely benefit from Title 1 funding. I think 90 to 100% of our students are from low income housing. If it [funding] just disappeared, all those kids would go hungry, all those kids probably won’t even show up to school, even more than they already do now, and they would suffer,” Andres said.
A math teacher at ʻEwa Makai Middle School, Alex Tam said, “Public education is critical for our kids to have the opportunities they deserve.”
“They need that safe place, and they need quality education. They need healthy food, and public schools are where a lot of these kids are receiving that,” Tam added.
“We need to increase our investment into teachers, into students, into families, the resources they need for a good education and for a stable life at home, because that’s the foundation. We need to be supporting working people and working families and not giving tax breaks to billionaires,” Tam said.
