HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Students and teachers are fighting back a proposal to cut the public school budget that could impact performing arts, STEM and agriculture programs statewide.

The plenary session of the Educational Council is to vote on the budget on Thursday general business meeting starting at 1:30 p.m

Learning centers help pay for performing arts, STEM, agriculture, health and business.

While training for an upcoming musical, senior Eva Tongamoa and the drama students at Mililani High School are now preparing for an unexpected role as a lawyer.

“I was shocked and kind of disappointed,” Tongamoa said.

“It was with initial disbelief because these programs have been around for years,” said Geneva Performing Arts Learning Center coordinator Esguerra Mililani.

She told Hawaii News Now, the state coordinator sent an email Tuesday about a possible $1.7 million budget cut from the Learning Center program. The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the budget at its 1:30 p.m. meeting Thursday.

“Then each individual director will have to look at the available funds and say, I have the funds to continue this program,” Esguerra said.

“Unfortunately, not all schools, not all learning centers, have this capability,” she added.

The DOE says it is responding to fiscal constraints and calls from lawmakers to reevaluate funding. It wants to transfer responsibility for 29 existing Learning Centers from the state level to the school level.

“The grants previously provided centrally by the Department’s state office for nearly four decades will be phased out,” the department said in a statement to Hawaii News Now.

“Schools would have the authority to prioritize program offerings using per-pupil school-level funds,” the statement added.

“There are coordinators that I’ve talked to that have told me straight up, my director has told me, if there’s no funding, this program will no longer exist,” Esguerra said.

Now, students are making signs, campaigning on social media and preparing to testify at the BOE meeting to save the arts and make sure the show goes on.

“My whole life that what I committed to was at risk of being taken away from me and future generations,” Tongamoa said.

The full statement of the Ministry of Education shows:

“The Department is committed to maintaining the essential services provided by our Learning Centers while adapting to tax directives. Statewide support for new and existing centers will continue to be coordinated by a statewide coordinator, ensuring consistent access to quality learning opportunities for all students.

In response to fiscal constraints and requests from legislators to reassess current funding, the Department proposes in its budget to transfer funding responsibility for 29 existing Learning Centers from the state level to the school level.

Under this plan, grants previously provided centrally by the Department’s state office for nearly four decades would be phased out, and schools would have the authority to prioritize program offerings using school-level per-pupil funds.

If approved, this adjustment will be phased in over the next two school years. The state office’s allocation of $17,000 for equipment and supplies for each approved existing Learning Center will end next school year (fiscal 2025-26), and the allocation of one-half of a teaching position for each approved program will end in the following year (fiscal year 2026-27). This aligns with the intent of Act 51, which 20 years ago delegated more purchasing power and authority to the school level.”

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