001good afternoon welcome to the committee on education today is Wednesday April 10th 3:00 and we are in room 229 this Zoom meeting and YouTube live stream event will include the 3:00 p.m. agenda for the committee on education I'd like to take this time to remind our testifiers that due to time restrictions on our hearings we will be limiting testimony to one minute per testifier per bill for people participating remotely please remain muted and video disabled until shortly before it is your turn to testify when I call your name unmute yourself and your time will begin after your minute is completed staff will mute you so that we can move this hearing along in an orderly and efficient manner before we begin I'd like to take a moment to congratulate Jade fam of kaana Naka middle
002school and Rory enoy of Waka High School these two outstanding Educators were recently awarded the prestigious milin educator award for their exceptional leadership and unwavering commitment towards their students and the teaching profession their remarkable contributions have made a significant impact on their school and community congratulations to our Hawaii teachers who go above and beyond thank you very much and with that let us begin uh we have a bunch of Governor messages on our committee agenda and the first is for our uh GM 715 for our early learning board for gator nominee Joie onishi and for a term to expire 6:30 2028 and to testify we have yuku AR Arawa Cross stand onestim support thank you also Sher Nakamura I am [Music] here [Music] okay um we also have written testimony and support from an SCH
003in Dean Career and Technical education Hawaii Community College from Lisa hukum Su Leanne urasaki Michelle everol and AA aamu all in [Music] support [Music] so for GM 715 for Joie onishi I am is she on Zoom not present on Zoom chair thank you okay is there anyone else here who wishes to testify on this gorial nominee if not let's move on to GM 716 to advise and cons consent for early learning board G gubernatorial nominee elain yashita for a term to expire 6:30 and you you stand testimony support thank you also we have written testimony in support from a Brenda wanabi assistant professor Early Childhood educator and Terry lock director Early Childhood educator excellence and Equity project uh College of Education is there anyone else here wishing to testify on this issue not is is
004yo here I'm sorry is this has been a long day is elain Yamashita here please come forward yes you like to tell us about yourself what would you like to know I would like to know what makes you so interested in wanting to do this and um I have time to perform your duties oh I'm retired from uh Mai college so yes I have time um and I have been in the field of early care and education for over 40 years and have watched this board evolve from State advisory Council to to Advisory Board and now to the Early Learning board and I've worked in one wanting to move policy forward in early childood in early care and education for all these years so I am excited to um be part of this well thank
005you congratulations on being nominated to the Early Learning board and uh um I guess my questions would be what goals do you want to see the executive office on early learning achieve during your ter during my turn well I would like to see um eel continue to work towards creating our system a more coherent system for early care and education in our state we still kind of operate in silos and we still need to be distinct but I think there are ways that in other states they figured out how to kind of work together and I think we're on that path and so I just want to continue supporting that thank and just being more coherent cuz having been in the system for many years it's just it's a very it's very different from the
006doe it is different funding streams a lot of different issues and a Severe Workforce issue so you are being appointed to represent the Hawaii medium Early Learning providers no MA county of Maui correct okay County of H of Maui Early Learning providers no there there is no I'm I'm so sorry Senator there is with the new formation of the board there's representatives from Hawaii Maui Hawaii City and County of Honolulu and at large so there is not a specific Hawaiian Early Learning are you from the island ofi I'm from the island of Maui Maui yeah sorry so as a board member how will you ensure that EO meets and continues in its statutory obligations to create an early learning system that is widely accessible and voluntary for both those served and program and service providers
007what I would do is help the board understand where the system is now and with um eel director cross um Arawa cross help everyone to come to a common vision of where we want to be and fig figured out how we get there given the different funding streams departments regulations Etc thank you members questions yeah yes you talked about the silos yes can you expand on that a little bit please sure um currently early if I say child care that means DHS funded programs then there are home visiting programs that are in the Department of Health then we have Department of Education that has the ready Ki programs and the eal programs then we have family child interaction learning programs then we have the Hawaiian medium programs of the punan Leo in the state and
008continuing on um we also have family child care so there are many different um entities within the early care and education system and sometimes if you're in one sector you don't necessarily understand what is going on or how the other sectors especially as far as funding is concerned um operate so one of the things I've seen is that sometimes unintentionally Federal funding has has been supplanted instead of supported and supplemented by state funds so an example of that and it doesn't happen anymore this was way in the beginning but federal funds the FED funds Head Start and when and Head Start is for very low-income families and sometimes if you have a very small community that has a limited number of children but they have low incomes they have a head start and what happened
009in one Community was there was a head they didn't have enough children to be in that Head Start and then um one of the doe schools and they didn't know how the funding streams work so the principal goes yeah I want to have a department of Ed School uh preschool and so then families went to that even though even Head Start is free and the doe school was free but then there were not enough children to have in both programs so the head start funding from the feds got pulled because there were not enough children so that's a kind of coordination and understanding of the funding streams that I think needs to happen does that make sense yeah it it does and um and so are do you see part of your function is to
010help coordinate some of this conversation I would I would like to yes because I think unless you understand where the funding comes from we're going to continue to have this supplanting instead of supplementing whereas I think we can get to a place where we can really maximize the use of the federal and state funds and we still need State funds definitely but we don't want to supplant federal funds in order to funds okay thank you thank you chair so when did this happen how long [Music] ago maybe 10 years ago or so it was It was kind of in the very beginning of EO so you've not had those problems I as far as I know I haven't heard you know this is it's kind of like you just hear things cuz it is kind
011of a small community Statewide so I haven't heard that happening since because especially since EO has put in uh a process of principles understand what is happening so I think since that has happened I haven't heard of that happening thank you members further questions thank you okay moving on to GM sorry that 717 submitting for consideration and Confirmation to the Early Learning board gubernatorial nominee Alana Balman for turn to expire 6:30 2028 Alana here please come forward please tell us about yourself and why you're interested in this position ala Cher kidani and members of the education committee um my name is Alana Balman I am uh born and raised uh from kaii um and look forward to serving um in this capacity on the Ford I currently sit as the Early Childhood system uh coordinator
012uh at kaai planning and action Alliance um supporting the Strategic expansion of Early Child Care um uh programming um and early learning opportunities on Kawaii I work closely with um many state county and uh private agencies to support the Early Learning sector um and the expansion across the state um and look forward to continuing to support eel um moving forward thank you um we have a number of written testimonies in all in support and we have [Music] also director yo on car cross thank you memb those questions I'm sorry you're not on my list please come forward Aloha chair Vice chair and members of the committee uh I'm testifying today as Sher Nakamura as an individual and I support the nomination of Alana Balman I've known Alana for a few years as we worked together
013on a data analysis project on Kawai because she had not been back too long from getting her Masters on the mainland I thought that I would be providing a lot of guidance on the project especially since our we have a difference in age but I was mistaken she picked up quickly and got to work her background in economics was also extremely helpful as Kawai ECE system coordinator she not only has overall systems view of the Early Childhood system there but she has a very good micro view of the landscape as well I think she will do well on the Early Learning board and urge the committee to confirm her nomination thank you for this opportunity thank you Sher anyone else here wishing to testify I'd like to testimon ver I did not write oh please
014come forward committee I'm C Burgess I just like to submit I'm so happy that she's I'm not even going to cry I'm not but it's just that um when I worked at k we had we were looking for someone to support Kawaii with their ECE coordination and um I remember just hearing so many good words about her and hearing sher's uh testimony it's obviously true I recently retired uh it's just so nice to hear that you're doing so well and I'd like to just ask that you f support her nomination Mahal before I need a box a tissue soon thank you co that was very nice members questions our nominee yeah good question CH Senator Rich um you worked at the food basket or food bank um what would that work that was during the
015co time what was your specific job doing uh the reason I'm asking the questions so oh I was a um Emer Mercy hire um I was volunteering at the time and then got hired on through um I believe rise to work funding that the county supported um to help uh facilitate uh Grant Administration as well as um donor recognition and appreciation okay where's going with it um big Allen from Big Island uh we were food insecure for children one out of five going into the pandemic one out of three during the pandemic we're just back to 1 out of four you talk about early childhood development nutrition is a big component of that how do you see this all time together and what you're going to be working on um I think raising Awareness on
016children nutrition for families as well as ensuring that uh programs that children are en rolled in have um access to Quality and um nutritional food programming is very important so depending on um the type of programing it's offering but U raising awareness about that for Child Development I think is very important um and seeing how uh eel could possibly you know help create awareness about that or ensure that students within the um program have access to um Quality nutritious food during throughout the day I I completely agree with you on that I think we're learning more about the need for high quality protein going in um into the children at a young age rather than trying to play catchup later and so I'm um I'm I'm excited about early childhood development education CU a lot
017of time our our Alice families they don't have enough food at home and so at least if we can get them there maybe we can help out the kids so thank you chair thank you members further questions yeah she feel like I just was talking to you a few minutes ago oh I was anyway um no just just a couple of comments I just you know when I had the privilege to talk to you before you came you know I feel confident and um you I'm happy that um you know you can be part of it and be you know well founded but same like with Senator Richards I talked to you about the food bank and I don't want to go into the details but I was sharing with you on the trials the
018tribulations to getting food to the neighbor Islands in a timely matter for the nutritions um that our families and kids need and I you know thank you for coming together and trying to get grant writing and because that's fun you know try to get the food to the neighbor islands is very challenging um I work closely with our food bank here and I know that when I seen that that's why I asked you the question during the pandemic because they reached out to us knowing it was a difficult time and be able to ship on time and the amount of poundage that you guys need in there and I just want to thank you for participating in that that's all I have chair thank you thank you for the questions members thank thank you so
019Alana in our previous discussion we talked about um one of your concerns which was program accessibility can you elaborate on that and uh how you think the board could be um better assist our families sure I think having a county representation on the board really supports understanding you know what type of program uh in what location would best fit a community so understanding the rural Landscapes of um each County and how to meet families where they're at so eating an expansion of programs um that might support again family child Interactive Learning programs um home visiting programs or a traditional preschool program ensuring that we are strategic in where we place those types of programs so that families can take full advantage of them and they have access to something thank you appreciate that so um
020you are aware that you know this is um Tak takes time your commitment and you're willing to um serve and commit that time to this board yes thank you are questions members if not thank you Elena thank you um I do believe that um a previous testifier is now on Zoom Joanie onishi or and this is where GM 715 want to go back there she is I'm sorry our previous uh Nomine is she yeah there she is oh hi Joanie un yeah and I don't know if we have anyone here that uh wanted to give further testimony on this nominee GM 715 members were there any questions that you may have wanted to ask no I thought I had questions uh so Joanie what goals do you want to see the executive office on early
021learning achieve uh you know as I mentioned in my letter of interest and I quoted former Hawaii County mayor the late Billy kenoi because he often said that education is the greatest equalizer and although he was addressing higher education because I'm um from the Hawaii Community College it is just as relevant from prek to lifelong learning and because it evens the um the playing field and so one thing that I would um like to see es especially I mean I'm speaking you know from the neighbor Island and from experiences with working with our rural communities is accessibility for all um of our youngsters uh you know because there are places like in Ocean View where you know the um children have to maybe work walk like s to just get to a bus stop and
022then um you know to get uh resources to them is um very problematic and for and transportation is also problematic but then you know if um accessibility for everyone I would say would be one of um my goals for the um for um the office thank you I appreciate that because that was going to be one of my questions as you are being appointed to uh represent the Hawaii medium but you do um also recognize that you um have to objectively meet all the statutory requirements even if it negatively impacts or does not prioritize the Hawaiian medium earning uh providers m questions if not thank you very much Miss onishi thank you for the opportunity and sorry we had technical difficulties no problem thank you for being able to join us thank you okay where
023was I 718 okay we finished with bana let's go to GM submitting for consideration and Confirmation to the Early Learning board nominee Lindsay heathcock for a term to expire 6:30 2027 and to testify thank you Sherry I I support thank you I've lost my place so forgive me 718 okay this is for Lindsay hiop Early Learning board and this is the City and County of Honolulu seat [Music] okay so is Lindsay there is that Lindsay can you hear us oh yes I can hear you can you hear me yes thank you yes hello thank you for having me um so um Lindsay do you believe that you will have the time to commit to serving as a board member yes I do excuse me I'm colleagues with Dr Mari urara who is also a physician
024and uh has talked to me about the time commitments and how she has fited into her um professional schedule so I do believe I'll be able to thank you so in meeting your statutory obligations as a board member you stated as a member of the national and local chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics are excited to promote collaboration between EO and AAP and what is AAP uh the American Academy of Pediatrics thank you members questions of our nominee um chair Senator Richards yeah thank you uh I don't know if you are listening in previous um candidates but we talked about nutrition in early childhood um as a pediatrician I assume you're on board with with what we need to do in our state especially our rural districts uh can you comment on that what
025your thoughts are as far as how we can enhance nutrition into these areas yes absolutely I think just having the opportunity for kids to have one or two um free or reduced price meals is a huge opportunity um that is very exciting that that will be a component of more kids going to Early Education um I think that there are exciting ways that we can enhance the nutrition uh that kids get while they're at school and especially things like incorporating um Local Foods uh to promote our local economy as well um that would be something that I would be excited to see okay thank you um thank you chair thank you Senator Kim thank you Aloha thank you very much for your willingness to serve and I guess this question probably or this concern that
026I have probably they should go for um all of the nominees um but since you are a pediatrician um what what is your sense about the balance of Early Education as well as balancing with the need to have to be with family to have family values to be nurtured in the household um in you know I think the rural areas have it better in the sense that they have families probably have more time to spend with the child uh whereas in urban areas where the families are pulled apart by you know the traffic the commute as long as it takes to um or it takes to what it takes to be able to earn money to be able to take care of all the family needs uh tend to want to just send the child
027off to whether it's preschool whether it's daycare whether it's Early Education um and somehow as the child progressed into Elementary School and on uh we're seeing more and more issues of mental health and uh issues regarding um stress place on the child to succeed stress on a child to be able to read before they're four you know the kind of peer pressure that comes from sometimes being in these early early classes Early Education classes so is that something that um as a pediatrician that you can opine on and is it something that you can bring to the board so that there is a balance and it's not just all you know Early Education Early Education School kind but family and and Community as well yeah I think that's a really great question and consideration I
028have a few different thoughts um one is that there's a lot of different ways that Early Education can look um and a lot of different needs that families have and so I think having a diversity of offerings including uh full day schedules or part day schedules or multiple days or or all days things like that can fit with family's needs and values um another thought I have is there are multiple ways for An Early Education setting to look and um and I I have seen studies that certain types of um Early Education can not be as helpful like if you're like you said trying to push straight academic learning too early um that might not always be a great idea but I think that a lot of schools um do such a great job of
029working on um things that kids do need to learn at their early age like social emotional learning and um play there's so much that can be learned from play um and I see in my patients every day that um so many families who are in Early Education are so thankful for the ways that these settings have helped their kids I had one the other day who um their child had had a speech delay um and had started doe at 3 years old and she was just gushing about how wonderful the experience was and how fast he was growing with his speech and it was really beautiful for me to see that um because I do think that um especially kids who are be behind can can really benefit and um and I think a lot
030of families are working during the day and don't have the time to really invest in the same way that a classroom setting can and um and are really grateful to have the opportunity if they're looking for it um and then the last thing I'll say is that I think schools often do a really great job of working with families to have family participation when possible and um help families have things that they can work on at home or um give fam's ideas for how to connect with their kids at home and so I think if we if we uh approach it from a family standpoint and have parents and families involved that's another great way to to promote family and um and and make sure that we're not losing that even though kids are spending
031time away from their homes I appreciate that response and I hope that is something that we integrated into Early Learning with the family the need and the importance and maybe even mandating that families be involved uh at at that age so that the families as well will will be able to work that into their skill schule and make that a priority as well yeah absolutely thank you thank you I appreciate that answer also I think that was a great answer and very important for youngsters as they get started in the school setting um members further questions thank you for being with us thank you so much Senator I just a question um we always talking about the food and um in Ral areas my my thing as a pediatrician your H his opinion I I
032only know one thing and how the food would change the way it is of the food food is in the rubbish can is when we was mandated to do the Michelle Obama complete meal for our kids coming from from what you see as a pediatrician um some of these kids are not able and don't even eat these Foods at home so in your opinion do you think that they should have a warm meal in their stomach or complete federally mandated meal the feds oversee our state kids that don't eat vegetables and fruits at home because they cannot afford it um so as an honest opinion be having a complete meal that is wared to their stomach and and good enough for the them throughout the day till they go home or having a balanced meal
033that the balance of the meal is in a rubbish can oh that is such a tricky thing and honestly I nutrition is such a tricky thing I it's such a we have such a systemic problem um with our nutrition that is so hard to solve um on an individual ual level and that that breaks my heart too to think of all the food uh being thrown away and kids going home hungry so I do I do think it I do think there needs to be a balance and I I think it goes back to also educating families but not just educating because I know fruits and vegetables are so expensive and so I I never blame folks who don't who can't afford them so I mean ideally in an IDE world I would love to
034be working with families to get these into their homes as well so that the first time a kid sees a certain vegetable is not at school I I think that would be ideal and a great thing um I think meeting kids where they're at and having some kind of a mix is also a good idea um and so it's I I think we need creative Solutions um but I think meeting people where they are is a good thing and and also uh helping them put good things into their bodies but not just the kids the parents too um and starting at an early age is is the way to go I I try to talk to to parents of six Monon olds about about nutrition because if they start the earlier they start the better
035um but I do think we need Creative Solutions that um are based in our our local community the only reason I want to bring that up is because we're we're um we we're Hostage to the federal program that gives us a lot of federal dollars for the meals but yeah you know our federal dollars should be spent better in the sense of not having um most of that as food waste so that's why I wanted to ask you what was boring important um a balance total balance meal the kids don't eat at home or when noodles or mod and P cash uh in a school because that's what they're doing in my community they go to the monopo truck they go to lnl they go to Lo Moko the higher up kids don't eat school
036lunches because of they don't eat that so I just wanted that um honest opinion thank you chair thank you further questions thank you Dr Heath I think your experience and your expertise and your knowledge would be a great value to this board Mahalo for being willing to serve appreciate it Mahal to you all thank you so much thank you okay [Music] members [Music] recess [Music] reconvening committee on [Music] education members on the agenda we have uh gm79 for Erica maen but uh the governor has withdrawn 71 GM 719 from consideration so we will move on to GM 720 for consideration and Confirmation to the Early Learning board goral nominee Ka Burgess for a term to expire 6:30 2027 Howe come for please aloh Alani chair Kim members of the committee I'm Co Burgess I um
037met you all before in my previous life I uh recently retired from KEH schools in October of 203 not quite I am uh I do provide early learning for my my granddaughter uh Kola she is 20 she's 2 years old and uh um my home looks like a little preschool with charts of numbers and alphabets and maps of the world and the United States and Havi on my walls and colors and shapes it's pretty fun but it is um probably one of the reasons why I did not become an early learning teacher I was a teacher in my past uh I did teach Health in uh at na you have seen my resume but uh just a little bit about myself and you may have already seen my testimony so I'm just going to give
038some highlights from that uh this or saying means to nurture the child to care for the child and the people will Thrive it is something that I strongly believe in and I truly believe that if Hawaii is able to get unified on this concept of caring for our children we will Thrive as a people I believe our economy will I believe we as adults uh grandparents the prison system the food system the housing system we will keep our leaders here um I just really feel that if we cherish and care for our children that the people here in Hawaii will Thrive that saying comes from kamehame schools as noted in my uh my testimony um it identifies the priority for Kam and uh I helped to create it but I strongly believe in it but
039about myself a little bit about my background um so again I am a grandmother of one I am a mother of three adults and my oldest is 31 but when he was four no sorry when he was three we were living in Hilo I'm a graduate of uh Hilo lived in Hilo for about eight eight years after I graduated from high school my family is from Hawaii uh Island from from uh community of w and uh that is where my mother my family home is our family lands that's where I'm from but uh when my son was four we were struggling I mean I worked at nailo as a teacher my husband was working at uh University of Hilo and we were one of the Alice families uh back then it wasn't talked about but
040today we were asset limited income constrained and employed with two children there was no way we could afford Early Learning but thank God my husband also believed in education because we both were willing to do what it took to put our two children through Early Learning in Hilo um well my my second child ended up going to Early Learning here on Oahu we ended up moving to Oahu in 98 and so she went to Early Learning here and then we had our third child but I know what it's like to eat rice and eggs for dinner I know what it's like to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because you're trying to get your children to school and it's not it it can't just be me I mean it's everyone you know and talk about
041our food eating eggs and rice and peanut butter jelly sandwich but uh I just I I strongly believe in um our our ability as Hawaii to achieve the goals that are in the plan that of uh that Yoo had set the state plan as well as the the uh road map for ACT 46 I strongly believe we can get it and I believe that I can ca with that and that is why I'm asking for your support in my nomination to the Early Learning board um any questions for me yes thank you co so act 46 of 2020 is to expand the capacity resources flexibility of child care facilities and I um in question one of the questionnaire you submitted you stated that you would like to see that act 46 carried out to completion
042by the year 2032 so how will you work as a board member in attaining this goal so when that act was even written uh I was working for Kamehameha and uh helped with the language in that act I strongly believe it and I will do whatever it takes I am known as a person to get things done um I believe that I bring to the table I bring to the board um relationships that can help with that experience in um the building of a collective or a collab C oration I have in the past put groups together uh to advance goals for the the public um or for native Hawaiians and one was during the pandemic one was during uh well my whole time at kamama created a collaborative of native haai organizations so that
043we could work together to bring money to Hawaii mostly Congressional know of uh Federal funding but also here in the state so I have the E the experience of collaborations and bringing people together I have the relationships to do that as well and I believe that I can COA with that um yeah yes thank you co members questions Senator failla yeah just as um you know uh going forward as you know as people moving forward and you knowing the challenges of what you just said shared as the a spring of our people going in our identity and you know I'm just I'm going um here work but if I don't have opportunity to ask the question I'm not going to know but through our Hawaiian language going forward in classes in in being a core
044uh class in high school I use high school because it's it's different but if I had a way to work this through to every grade from prek to 12 but was more so of my community asking especially the kids in my district which regardless know a lot of them that belong to the Hawaiian club with the anything to do with Hawaiian he not a Hawaiian it's mostly Filipino but they strive to want to learn the culture that they never got to see or need to hear or not even having historic books so how would you feel that um what is your thoughts of having Hawaiian language as a core class in uh High School in high school okay okay real fast um first of all I believe that ha language hawne culture is important for
045every person in Hawaii not just Hawaiian yes Filipinos everybody why because it is the land that they are living in it is the water they're drinking from it is the air they are breeding it is the land they are living on it is the land they are caring for and so knowing and having that relationship knowing our culture gives them a a an in to having a relationship with the AA having a relationship with the water that they're taking that they're consuming and the air that they are breathing this is their land amen and therefore they should know what our values are it is good for everyone and you know what okay I got to get all titto over here sorry sorry CH sorry chair but you know if everybody knew the culture that is
046a Competitive Edge for people from Hawaii this is for all of us it is a Competitive Edge for every child that comes out of Hawaii they go to a law school in New York they got their culture from Hai that they can lean on that nobody in New York nobody in La nobody in Georgia can lean on they got their values they know what the AA is to them they know what the water is to them oh my heart is beating I'm calm down but yes my simple answer is yes it is very important and I can be very passionate about that um but I feel every child will benefit from the from knowing the culture of Hawai knowing knowing the Hawaiian culture specifically and knowing the and the language is the culture is in
047the language you cannot have the culture without the language and therefore when our Lang anyway I got stop there so so the reason why the reason why I say this CH is as the resilience of of our people and I and I always go back because not because I am a republican but because I really love the ideals of Prince coohill and as I learned here being in this building with my colleagues going forward how much Prince kohil loved everybody y exactly what you just said y 110% it wasn't just for our people was for all his people Y in in in under him so that's why I bring it up because it it's it's so I don't say funny but it's so um unique for a non Hawaiian asking me why wiam more mday
048why we no more certain things like other schools have when it comes to cultural we have cultural day but cultural day we have more Spanish and and other nationalities than just a fish and poy so that's the reason why you know I keep bringing it up sound like I'm BR work sorry chair but it's it's it's something that I just totally believe when I got into this Square building since 1978 I think in the Hawaii rev statute said that English and Hawaiian should be taught in our schools in our curriculum and that's the reason it it should as the okay official language and while those cultures are important I I truly believe they're important to learn even for native Hawaiian amen it is very important but for any child living in Hawaii the culture of
049Hawaii the native Hawaiian culture culture is important because they they will have a Competitive Edge that no one else from any other state can fall back on thank you anyway thank you chair you appreciate you for questions quick ones chair um okay your passion is self-evident so it's a TI so it's a TI side yeah um do appreciate what you're you're talking about something that um Senator Kim touched on as far as the family structure take care of the children will end up taking care of the community I agree with that what I think we work so hard now that we don't have enough time to have that family structure and I think long-term loss we do it all shortterm so it can make ends meet but how do we how do we work on
050getting that family structured so there's more family time you talked about grandkids and that family structure but I think we'll be a healthier Society if we have more of that family structure the way I see that happening is you start generation the this generation you do it Generation by generation you need to start with the children now I agree because when we raise these children correctly we we raise them with the values we raise them with love we raise them with the right Foods they will become those parents that automatically will be jumping into the early learning school and automatically jumping into Koka and helping the preschool you don't need to mandate you raise the children right now nurture the children now and our economy our families our people everyone will be good for it
051but we got to start someday some where okay I got to jump in on this go ahead no no because I agree I agree with what you said but you know what we've raised this generation that we have trouble with okay we have raised them the problems that we have with this generation is that we the baby boomer Boomers thought we were raising the kids right and look what we have so yeah I agree that you know you teach them your culture you teach them this you teach them that and everything's going to be you know this this Rosy picture but apparently it's not you know so we have made many mistakes and we continue to make those mistakes and I just want to make sure that we don't just say oh just have early
052education education is the key education is not only the key by itself you need a whole lot of other stuff culture is not only the key not the only key no yes so it's not I mean I my family raised five kids and of the five kids two of them have issues so you know it's not necessarily even within the family but you make up for a those too but I'm just saying so you know I just don't want you folks go into this this this um commission or this this um um board and that with the idea that yeah we just got to we just got to make sure that everybody gets an education because as we said there's a balance to this education and how we do it and no matter what you
053teach the children at some point they're influenced by other things and they grow up and if they're not going to if they think that they can just grow up and throw their child into an Early Education and that's going to be it and if that what we're teaching that we're not going to better the society so question who are you saying we who are you saying we all of us this whole community so right I raised my children yeah and I feel like I did a darn good job you did too by the way um my my thinking is where does everyone else come in we as a state unified where does our well that's for your board the board exactly so that's why I'm saying why you need say as a board look at
054the state of Hawaii that's that's what I'm talking about the board the state of Hawaii and the EOB board we can demonstrate that we value I read it on the eoeo site about um uh valuing or um oh gosh what is the word valuing a longstanding oh or demonstrating long-standing values for our Ki of caring for our Ki that how are we demonstrating that how are how are we demonstrating that you know how we did we got the $200 million in 2022 to to fund the development of some classrooms that are so necessary but that kind of demonstration of prioritization is caring for our children how do we as a state care so so my kolana on the Early Learning board would be to bring up these kinds of questions to to respectfully say yeah
055but I think yeah but what about this well that's what we yeah but what about that and that cuz get this that that and that and get the food system too right so that's how I feel and and obviously my passion is evident and I'm not um not that I'm not afraid but I am bold to not be afraid to to share my thoughts and and respectfully say what are we really doing though how are we really demonstrating our longstanding values for our children how are we doing that right and have we been doing it since I was a child have we truly if you think about it tonight in bed have we truly as a state trly said our children are number one our children are going to be at the center of our
056decision making when we do housing why because it's for the children when we take care of our water why because of the children their health yeah I hate to tell you this but you're not the first to bring all of this stuff you're not the first to have the this an opportunity it again for the decades I've been serving I've heard boards come and go I've heard people come and go and we and we are where we are today we still are where we are today and what and my question is what does it take then to change it well that's what you and people like you so that's why we you right people like people like me I'm very very vocal I mean not that vocal but not a bad thing but I'm not
057afraid to speak right and you know what just just to say I look hey I look forward to working with some of these I mean all of these I saw the uh the hearings for the other two uh Gandhi and oh gosh I forget the the second Stephanie yes I mean all of these women are people like hammers it would be great I am I'm known to do things to to get things done and these are the kind this is the kind of team I'm looking forward to working with I'm looking I want to work with people who want to get things done and and that's what I see in their eyes during their testimony that's what I hear from today um that's who I want to work with I want to do that with
058him appreciate that anyway take time thank you look forward to working with you to Mah thank you thank you and for our last item on the agenda Governor's message 721 submitting for consideration and Confirmation to the Early Learning board nominee Cheryl camat for term to expire cherl oh you cross you have testimony thank you is there anyone else here wishing to testify the floor is yours Aloha chair kidani Aloha Vice chair Kim and the members of the senate committee and education I'm so excited to be here I feel like it's been a long time coming I have been the director of Ki care center of hav a small humble preschool PE City for the last 16 years going on 17 years and I can literally remember the first day when we opened um that was
059a stir in itself uh another preschool in our community St Timothy's children center if some of you have been familiar they had marked its 30th year in 2008 but was abruptly closed down unfortunately due to dire repairs so literally overnight a lot of the teachers again who have been working there for some of them 30 years got the pink slip my husband and I just truly felt it was wrong I'm probably one of the most unique members here um actually I wrote something but I'm not even going to read it um um I actually do not have a education degree in education I actually have an MBA in marketing and Communications and uh for a long time my husband and I have run our structural engineering firm and just giving back to the community has
060been just throughout our lives you've been part of the JC's the rotary what have you I've been president um so leadership is definitely hopefully not in question for me uh but again for the past 16 going on 17 years living and breathing running a preschool has been our lives we have four children um I have a son who's a sophomore in Japan at kyota University I have a son who is graduating this year from St Louis um thankfully we just found out going to USC this coming fall and I have two daughters at Sacred Hearts um a sophtware in seventh grader some of you may be wondering if you saw my resume to how would I possibly have the time it's because I am very blessed to have great teams and all of our companies
061and I will absolutely do everything in my power to make time for this like I said I have been living and breathing running a preschool I don't see myself as a director I see myself as a team player absolutely I go into the classrooms whenever my teachers need help and what I have to tell you today which I really wanted to share is that the children today long story shorts are the most challenging ever I don't know whether it's because of Co but to be be honest I don't think it's that I think it's because of this I think too many parents are on this and it's not just in Hawaii it's not just the US it's Global my husband just went to the Philippines for business I mean it's everywhere you go the parents
062are using this giving their children oh my gosh like there's not when they can't even talk I can tell you um I have a lot of friends and I make a point to make friends um kindergarten teachers I'm like how is it oh my gosh they will talk to me for hours how it is talk to every grade level children are just different today but bottom line why I'm here today is because we can make a difference it starts with Early Learning so again I thought about this for literally 16 years how can we make a difference I'm so glad to have a pediatrician on the board but you know what I thought about it let's start with the Obstetricians let's start with the people who get pregnant because we have to educate the parents
063before the baby comes out that's when they're most attentive right they don't have the baby there they'll come to the workshops what have you they have to do their monthly visits anyway put the pamphlets there they're sitting in the waiting room anyway you know there's so many opportunities before the children come when they're so busy right gosh we can do so much social media today I'm not even techsavvy okay I'm not techsavvy but there's others who are for parents to day there's so many Avenues and with the board that I see today I know that we can make a difference but it starts with Early Learning when I first U I know can talk forever but let me end with two more things um even when we opened the preschool there was statistical data in
064Europe in Asia that if you invest in early childhood education at the Young ages there is less homelessness there is less welfare you guys I'm sure on this committee know that but the other countries are already doing it so we in the US are so far behind Hawaii has an opportunity to be an example and like like how said uh we totally believe in the children and Aloha let's be an example for the whole us because Preschool teachers are the lowest paid and I don't know if you folks know but we also have the highest overhead of a lot of other businesses we have the highest health insurance did you know that I can tell you that preschools have the highest health insurance so we are stuck having to charge High tuition so you mentioned
065about why parents don't have time to spend with their children is because they're working two or three jobs some of the professionals are having to quit their jobs so their spouse can work the two or three jobs and never see their children so I really believe again it's about the money if we can somehow and I don't know if it's even in our power but if we can help give subsidies not just for the low income I can tell you those who get subsidies today no offense are the low income they hardly come to school they hardly come to school and it breaks my heart sorry I can get emotional breaks my heart to see families the middle-income families who maybe make $20 too much and can't get subsidy and they're the ones struggling it
066makes no sense we have to change we have to change the mentality of all the lawmakers that first of all that preschools are not daycares that's the first thing we have to change and we have to educate parents as early as possible so yeah even before they're born they start educating the parents and maybe there's even a hope there's even a hope that we can make a difference okay sorry for that I'm open for questions thank you members questions just a comment if I yes I just want to thank you um I you know think it's so important and necessary that we have a well-rounded uh view as to what is needed and again it's not just putting the child in early Ed but like you said you got to take them from the the
067parents you have to teach them before they even have the child of what is needed and what's important and then we have to all work work together to do it so it is valuing our teachers valuing the caretakers um valuing them as well but again also recognizing that um we have to balance all of it right I mean it's easy to say let's raise everybody's salaries but then when you look at all of the demands upon that one tax dollar that comes in that one dollar how do you divide it up and and do that and so those are the pressures that have to be Vic and so it's so important that as we move forward with our Early Education that sometimes we do focus on those most needing but like you said those are
068the ones sometimes that are that are not responsible enough to to have the Childs in the classes and it's the middle inome families that need the help the most help and I know cuz I came from the lower middle income family whose mother did not want to take $1 of government funding not one snap dollar not one food stamp dollar and struggled to to make ends me wow I her yeah um five kids you know so um those are the kinds of things I think that's important as we move forward because there's so many people scamming the system oh yes yeah scam the system and then it makes it hard for those who really truly need it yes yes and there are yes let me just make a point there are some families on subsidy
069that truly value it yeah one thing I must say and thank you for mentioning um I forgot to mention I am a numbers person I love numbers and I think when it comes to serving on this board I think that's one area that I would love to be in because it's where is the money coming from is there money that we can find I love that challenge I know it sounds funny but I do I do thank you yeah thank you questions members yeah chair yes Richard um I think the diversity of this board is going to be interesting to watch I love it and I'm going to actually tune in and watch some of your meetings cuz I kind of fun pleas please yes the personalities well yeah just that the energy um and
070you know I appreciate the fact that you're a numbers person and a marketing person because I think part we have to Market our education yes yes and so looking at it with a different lens is important um one of the things that we've sort of circled around is we have a challenge between educating giving opportunity and sometimes pushing to hard and we're under this illusion that accelerated programs are really good and I would argue that they're not as good as we think they are um Early Education sometimes kids need to just play too that's part of the education process comments on that yes oh absolutely yes that is my motto learn through play so you're talking to the right person when I talk to parents when I do preschool tours I literally say you know
071that I'm probably one of the old school preschools today because I do not have any Electronics in our program no iPads kids today don't even know how to turn pages of a book They are tearing them I'm literally buying books all the time which which is so expensive um children don't how to do puzzles today why because on the you know what they're using um so yes no I believe in learn through play and I absolutely tell parents this you could have the smartest child in the world but if they can't make friends it's all for not social emotional development that is the philosophy um coming from St Timothy's children center again coming through our program that is what we preach all the time and actually I don't know if there's even a way we
072can mandate it that is actually one of the core issues I'd like to fix with DHS is that there is no curriculum there is nothing you can call yourself whatever no offense Academy and call yourself and do this and do that but there is no continuity no consistency in any of the schools today no consistency so I run my school one way and I you know tell parents hey go visit another preschool because it's literally right your home away from home but I tell them straight you know this is what we do I really don't know what they're doing because there is no curriculum standard in preschools so that's number one yeah okay thank you thank you for asking this is going to be a fun board to watch questions members so Cheryl and um
073your comments you said that um your goals is to provide actual achievable recommendations so there is consistency between our Early Education facilities so how will you work with your board members to achieve that yes that is definitely a big goal in My Hope um first of all getting to know our board like with any organization you have to see what resources what strengths we have and then we have to utilize those members in those particular areas getting to know and hearing some of the members today I'm very confident for the first time I think that we can make a difference um like for me myself I run in I run a preschool day in and day out Monday through Friday 7 to 5 I know exactly what it takes and the and the gosh the
074hardships that the teachers go through that is again super important something that we should never forget because I think it's the most difficult jobs that you know are out there but the most fulfilling one thing I wanted to add today um I apologize to kind of digress but um again just something I really wanted to mention that if we don't find the continuity especially with the preschools coming you know through the doe did you folks know Senate education committee that the doe did not even communicate with DHS when opening these preschools so in in a way it's like why are we Reinventing the wheel again another like like like how we brought up today all the different departments this is yet another sector that's going to be running a silo why are we not working
075together I don't know it makes no sense and what what you know um sen Senator Richard has brought up you know if we don't have continuity like with our programs like I literally fear that if you don't have the right educator or just experienced person in a in a in the classroom you could be damaging a little child's life when it's only the beginning it takes someone who's nurturing and experience and and not just education I have hired um those with bachelor's degrees but if they don't have the experience or the love for children no no thank you no thank you you have to first and foremost be there for the children and I Feel Again hearing from everyone in the board I sense that with all of them I sense that with all of
076you um so again just coming up with tangible goals I know two three four years will go by very quickly I don't have the answer to that but knowing that we'll work together we'll definitely do our very best well we hope we get some kind of piece of recommended legislation for next session where we have continuity in the bring up a really good point and if you guys don't come up with it then you're going to have some of us dream it up and we're not the experts and so and even very basic yes I hope that's the first thing that you guys yes tackle is is to come up with some and communication within the Department of Education Department of Health and DHS yeah simple thank you I think that the seven of you
077um this is going to be a firecracker I just can't wait for you guys to get together um and doe and DHS is going to have a lot of um good things coming from your board so with that let's take a short recess thank okay thank you we are reconvening our committee on education um and we the committee has agreed that we want to confirm all of our GM and our nominees for the Early Learning board joonie onishi elen Yamashita Alana Balman Lindsey hipop Erica ma shank K Co Burgess and Cheryl c c so members for the vote I'm sorry taking off the yeah not er sorry yeah so this is recommendation is to advice and consent on GM 715 716 717 721 chair votes I any member voting in the M any member voting
078with reservations hearing none all five members present recommendations adopted all congratulations all of you be awesome awesome meeting aour