OHA education team seeks pilot funding for cultural CTE, youth civic program and school supports

Kuule Anuhea Awochan, director of education and culture‑based learning, presented multiple education initiatives that OHA’s Strategy & Implementation team proposes to fund in FY26–27, emphasizing culturally grounded approaches and partnership with community practitioners.

Ajo ʻŌpio and youth civic engagement: The team proposed $53,000 for a hands‑on, culturally grounded youth civic engagement program (Ajo ʻŌpio) to build advocacy skills, introduce career pathways and connect students with kupuna and community leaders. Awochan said program design can flex depending on partners and scale; trustees suggested pairing additional partners to expand reach.

Cultural CTE pilot: The highest single ask in the education package is a $400,000 two‑year pilot to develop two cultural career and technical education pathways (proposed examples included oceans‑based careers and indigenous healing). Awochan said the $400,000 would cover curriculum development, practitioner certification frameworks, teacher training and implementation costs for two separate pathways (each pathway requires a full set of deliverables).

Curriculum, assessment and school supports: The director asked $170,000 to support culturally sustaining assessment work for Hawaiian‑focused charter schools and $205,000 over two years to produce three children’s books in English and ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (six books total), plus $60,000 for kupuna oral‑history video documentation. Awochan described two distribution options for charter supports: (1) contract a curriculum specialist to coordinate system‑level work across schools, or (2) distribute funds directly to schools on a per‑pupil or equal share basis.

Teacher support and scholarships: The team proposed microgrants for teacher candidates (an initial plan of $4,000 for up to 50 students) but noted trustees had placed a separate scholarship line elsewhere in the budget; the director proposed an alternate option to fund SATEP (State Approved Teacher Education Program) slots directly for immersion and Hawaiian‑focused teachers.

Partnerships and convenings: Awochan listed ongoing coordination with charter leaders, the DOE, the Charter Commission and private partners and asked for modest funds for convenings, printing and dissemination of curriculum resources and small travel budgets tied to program implementation. Trustees emphasized the need to align OHA’s work with existing statutory obligations and larger funding streams—one trustee asked staff to coordinate with the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and reminded the board that past legislation (cited in the meeting) noted OHA’s support for a Hawaiian language college.

Ending: Trustees expressed support for the concepts and requested continued coordination across OHA budgets (noting an existing $3 million per year line for Hawaiian‑focused charter schools elsewhere in the biennial budget). Staff said many proposals could be adapted if trustees preferred to redirect funds to replace recently cut federal native‑education funding or to scale specific programs.