Preschool applications for financial assistance are now being accepted
Hawaii families seeking financial assistance for preschool tuition can now apply for the state-funded Preschool Open Doors program, which supports working families by ensuring their children have access to early education.
The state Department of Human Services is accepting applications through April 30 for the 2025-2026 school year. The program provides tuition subsidies for eligible 3-and 4-year-olds.
Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who leads the state's Ready Keiki initiative aimed at expanding prekindergarten access, emphasized the program's importance amid ongoing uncertainties surrounding federal funding for early education.
'With uncertainty at the federal level around child care and early education funding, Preschool Open Doors reaffirms our state's commitment to supporting local families—ensuring our keiki can access the opportunities they need to thrive, ' Luke said. 'For many families, the cost of child care and preschool can be as high as rent. This subsidy provides meaningful relief, making quality early education more accessible for Hawai 'i's working families.'
To qualify, children must have birth dates between Aug. 1, 2020, and July 31, 2022, meaning they would enter kindergarten in the 2026-2027 or 2027-2028 school year.
The program prioritizes at-risk or underserved children and considers household income when determining eligibility.
Don 't miss out on what 's happening !
Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE !
Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.
For a household of two, the monthly income limit is $6, 080, or $72, 960 annually ; for a household of four, the monthly income limit is $9, 245, or $110, 940 annually.
Families that meet eligibility criteria can choose from 382 state-licensed preschools, with maximum subsidy amounts set at $1, 500 per month for accredited schools and $1, 200 for nonaccredited ones.
DHS Director Ryan Yamane highlighted the program's growing demand, noting that over 5, 000 applications were received in 2024 due to expanded eligibility and increased income thresholds.
'The extended application window for the Preschool Open Doors program, expanded eligibility to include 3-year-old children, and increased income limits led to a significant increase in applications, ' Yamane said. 'Every child deserves a strong start, and the high level of interest in the program reflects how important these opportunities are for families across the state.'
Currently, Preschool Open Doors serves more than 2, 300 children statewide and helps young learners develop essential skills to prepare for school and long-term success. With another strong response expected this year, DHS urges families to apply early.
DHS expects a high number of applications again this year and urges families to apply before the deadline to secure preschool assistance for their children.
Families can submit applications online at childcaresubsidy application.dhs.hawaii.gov or request a form through People Attentive to Children, the program's contractor, at patchhawaii.org or by calling 808-791-2130. Applications must be received by 4 :30 p.m. April 30.
Families also have the option to submit their applications by mail, fax or email to PATCH's Honolulu office. The organization can assist families in finding a suitable preschool and provide guidance throughout the application process.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Kokua Line: Are needy Hawaii kids getting summer food money?
Question : Last summer kids on SNAP got money for over the summer. Will they do this again this summer ? Answer : Yes. You are referring to the SUN Bucks program, also known as Summer EBT, which is underway and remains open for applications, according to the state Department of Human Services. Many school-aged children, including those in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, automatically qualified for SUN Bucks ; their households did not need to apply. A mainland vendor began mailing SUN Bucks electronic benefit transfer cards to those children starting the week of May 19, with delivery expected to take two to three weeks, according to DHS. If your household qualified for automatic enrollment but has not received the $177 benefit per child, you may call the SUN Bucks customer serv ice line toll-free at 1-888-975-SEBT (7328 ) to ensure your correct mailing address is on file. 'We are using the mailing address based on the child's school records, or the household's mailing address per their SNAP or TANF case, if the household participates or has participated in those programs. If families believe we may have incorrect mailing information ' they should call the aforementioned number to report the change of address, according to the DHS website. Families whose children were not automatically enrolled but who meet the requirements still have time to apply. Go to to apply online or to download a paper application and for eligibility details, including household income cutoffs. Note that 'households that applied for, and were determined eligible for, Summer 2024 during the period of July 1, 2024, through August 4, 2024, do not need to submit an application for Summer 2025. The same Summer 2024 application will be used to determine eligibility for Summer 2025, ' DHS says. The program, which is funded by the state of Hawaii and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is meant to ensure that school-age children who usually eat breakfast and lunch at school have access to healthy food during the summer break. According to Human Services, school-aged children are automatically eligible for SUN Bucks (no application required ) if :—The child's household participated in SNAP or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families in any month from July 1, 2024, through Aug. 3, 2025 ; or—The child has been identified as a ward of the state (foster child ), or identified by their school as homeless, migrant, or runaway ; or—The child attended a school that offers the National School Lunch Program, and their household applied for and was approved for free or reduced-price school meals. School-aged is defined as 'a child who will have arrived at the age of at least 5 years on or before July 31 of the school year, and who will not have arrived at the age of 18 years, by Jan. 1 of any school year.' Exceptions allow SUN Bucks benefits for some younger children, including those in Head Start. See the DHS website for details. Q : As we approach the second anniversary of the Maui fires, I am wondering how much that one big fund ended up collecting and if they've spent it all ? A : Nearly $210 million has been donated to the Maui Strong Fund (including interest earned ), of which about $141 million has been awarded and committed to grantees, according to the Hawaii Community Foundation, which administers the fund. Read about specific grants on the HCF website, . The fund provides financial resources for the immediate and long-term needs of people and places affected by that devastated Lahaina and also ravaged Kula.------------Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2-200, Honolulu, HI 96813 ; call 808-529-4773 ; or email.------------
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Scrub Hub: IU's new bison mascot links back to a forgotten piece of Indiana history
After decades with no furry beast repping its athletic department, Indiana University recently adopted an official mascot. Once again, it's a bison. The two-thousand-pound animals used to roam the Indiana landscape en masse, packing down the earth beneath their feet and creating paths as they shuffled along. Indiana University referenced perhaps the most famous of these trails — the Buffalo Trace — in their Star-Wars-style announcement video last month. But after almost 200 years without a bison in sight, it can be hard to imagine how they could have permanently altered the Indiana landscape. So, this edition of Scrub Hub, we spoke with Clark County Surveyor David Ruckman and Director of the Buffalo Trace Land Trust Elizabeth Winlock to help us answer the questions: What is the Buffalo Trace in Southern Indiana, and why is it so ingrained in our state's history? Upwards of 60 million bison used to plod across the North American landscape. The enormous, horned beasts were integral to prairie ecosystems: they fed on grasses and sedges, helped create water sources and fed the people living nearby. They were often on the move. Large herds of hungry buffalo traversed Indiana, constantly sniffing out their next meal. Bison huffed up upland ridges to graze during the warm months and when the temperatures dropped, they trotted back down into large river valleys toward insulated forests. As they crossed the state, their path was likely directed by where they could find salt licks and water sources. Over the years — and underneath thousands of hoofprints — paths formed across the southern Indiana landscape. The largest came to be known as the Buffalo Trace. Indigenous groups, like the Miami Tribe, were likely the first people to move across the region on these trails. But as Europeans began to colonize North America, more humans found the trace, and soon, it became a bustling trail from Louisville to Vincennes. After President Thomas Jefferson bought 530 million acres through the Louisiana Purchase, he focused on the Buffalo Trace as a way to access it. 'Jefferson immediately saw that and said, 'Hey, we've got to control this buffalo road, whatever it is, because that's our way west,'' said David Ruckman, a surveyor for Clark County, who helped re-plot the trail as part of the Hoosier National Forest Service's effort to preserve state history. But the trail didn't stay a buffalo road for long. As European immigrants settled in North America and pioneers traveled west, they killed tens of millions of bison. The slaughter coincided with the young nation's plans to eradicate, assimilate, and relocate local Indigenous tribes, many of which relied on the creatures as a food source. By 1830, the last wild Indiana bison was killed. The Buffalo Trace became a very different place: pioneers, wagons and horses — but no more buffalo — crossed the trail, heading west. Settlements and farms cropped up alongside of it. And due to the sheer amount of traffic, pieces of the trace quickly became unrecognizable. 'It was just a dusty path, right? A hard-packed path,' said Ruckman. But as wagons began traveling over wet dirt, ruts began to form. 'And those ruts just kept going deeper and deeper. Some places they're eight and ten feet deep.' The trace has continued to evolve. Today, some sections are smothered in concrete or asphalt, underneath county highways. Other chunks pass through rural farmland, alongside high schools and down the main streets of small towns. But the remnants of the trail still connect communities across southern Indiana. 'We kind of take for granted just how special some of this is,' said Elizabeth Winlock, the Director for the Buffalo Trace Land Trust in southern Indiana. It's not the flashiest natural landscape or a bustling metropolis, she added, but she thinks the long history of buffalo, Indigenous people and settlers using the trail as a trading and migration route is worth paying attention to. 'Just being able to slow down for a second think about the land that you're on and the other animals and other people that came before you,' said Winlock. "I think all of that is valuable.' IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Sophie Hartley is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach her at or on X at @sophienhartley. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Scrub Hub: IU's new bison mascot points to forgotten Hoosier history
Indianapolis Star
a day ago
- Indianapolis Star
Scrub Hub: IU's new bison mascot links back to a forgotten piece of Indiana history
After decades with no furry beast repping its athletic department, Indiana University recently adopted an official mascot. Once again, it's a bison. The two-thousand-pound animals used to roam the Indiana landscape en masse, packing down the earth beneath their feet and creating paths as they shuffled along. Indiana University referenced perhaps the most famous of these trails — the Buffalo Trace — in their Star-Wars-style announcement video last month. But after almost 200 years without a bison in sight, it can be hard to imagine how they could have permanently altered the Indiana landscape. So, this edition of Scrub Hub, we spoke with Clark County Surveyor David Ruckman and Director of the Buffalo Trace Land Trust Elizabeth Winlock to help us answer the questions: What is the Buffalo Trace in Southern Indiana, and why is it so ingrained in our state's history? Upwards of 60 million bison used to plod across the North American landscape. The enormous, horned beasts were integral to prairie ecosystems: they fed on grasses and sedges, helped create water sources and fed the people living nearby. They were often on the move. Large herds of hungry buffalo traversed Indiana, constantly sniffing out their next meal. Bison huffed up upland ridges to graze during the warm months and when the temperatures dropped, they trotted back down into large river valleys toward insulated forests. As they crossed the state, their path was likely directed by where they could find salt licks and water sources. Over the years — and underneath thousands of hoofprints — paths formed across the southern Indiana landscape. The largest came to be known as the Buffalo Trace. Indigenous groups, like the Miami Tribe, were likely the first people to move across the region on these trails. But as Europeans began to colonize North America, more humans found the trace, and soon, it became a bustling trail from Louisville to Vincennes. After President Thomas Jefferson bought 530 million acres through the Louisiana Purchase, he focused on the Buffalo Trace as a way to access it. 'Jefferson immediately saw that and said, 'Hey, we've got to control this buffalo road, whatever it is, because that's our way west,'' said David Ruckman, a surveyor for Clark County, who helped re-plot the trail as part of the Hoosier National Forest Service's effort to preserve state history. But the trail didn't stay a buffalo road for long. As European immigrants settled in North America and pioneers traveled west, they killed tens of millions of bison. The slaughter coincided with the young nation's plans to eradicate, assimilate, and relocate local Indigenous tribes, many of which relied on the creatures as a food source. By 1830, the last wild Indiana bison was killed. The Buffalo Trace became a very different place: pioneers, wagons and horses — but no more buffalo — crossed the trail, heading west. Settlements and farms cropped up alongside of it. And due to the sheer amount of traffic, pieces of the trace quickly became unrecognizable. 'It was just a dusty path, right? A hard-packed path,' said Ruckman. But as wagons began traveling over wet dirt, ruts began to form. 'And those ruts just kept going deeper and deeper. Some places they're eight and ten feet deep.' The trace has continued to evolve. Today, some sections are smothered in concrete or asphalt, underneath county highways. Other chunks pass through rural farmland, alongside high schools and down the main streets of small towns. But the remnants of the trail still connect communities across southern Indiana. 'We kind of take for granted just how special some of this is,' said Elizabeth Winlock, the Director for the Buffalo Trace Land Trust in southern Indiana. It's not the flashiest natural landscape or a bustling metropolis, she added, but she thinks the long history of buffalo, Indigenous people and settlers using the trail as a trading and migration route is worth paying attention to. 'Just being able to slow down for a second think about the land that you're on and the other animals and other people that came before you,' said Winlock. "I think all of that is valuable.' IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
