As we gear up for the start of the 2023 Legislative Session, one of the Department's major priorities will be to secure funding to support public education through the state's operating budget and capital improvements budget. It's critical that our schools have the necessary resources to positively impact student outcomes, and that the Department is adequately funded to support students.

You may have seen recent reports about how our per-pupil funding compares to other states. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Hawai‘i spent an average of $16,761 per student in the 2018-19 school year, the most recent year for which national data are available — $3,000 more than the national average.

The Department also spends an average of 3.54% for “general admin costs” (centralized, non-school administrative costs), compared to a national average of nearly 6%. That’s according to nationwide data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau for NCES.

On Friday the Department is scheduled to present our budget request for fiscal years 2023-25 at the State Capitol before the Senate Ways and Means and Education Committees, the House Finance Committee, and the House Education Committee.

As part of our budget presentations, the Department plans to share with lawmakers the positive impact that returning to full in-person learning is having on student achievement — with the help of federal pandemic relief funding — and the legislative investment that is needed to sustain and further accelerate our efforts to support student success.

The legislative briefings are open to the public but no testimony is accepted. You can catch a livestream of committee meetings on the Hawai‘i House of Representatives YouTube and the Hawai‘i State Senate YouTube channels.