As class started for more than a dozen toddlers at Onelau’ena Emergency Shelter in Kapolei, there were no tearful goodbyes or difficult separations from parents. Instead, family members sat cross-legged next to their children in the morning circle, joining the class in singing “Aloha Kakahiaka” and helping their kids use tambourines to keep the beat of the song.

The four-hour class, operated by the nonprofit Partners in Development Foundation, was as much of a learning opportunity for parents as it was for children. In addition to teaching families hands-on educational activities they can easily replicate at home, the program also provides parenting classes covering topics ranging from health and nutrition to job preparedness.

“It really taught me how to interact with my kid and also what kind of things help them to learn,” said parent Chelsea Kanehailua-Kay, who has brought her three sons to the program over the past several years.

The class is part of a statewide network of family and child interaction learning programs, which serve children ages 0 to 5 and their caregivers. The programs are largely located in rural and low-income areas of the state and incorporate Hawaiian language and culture into their instruction.

Last year, nearly 60% of the children participating in Partners in Development’s program were Native Hawaiian, although the classes are free and open to all families.

A handful of nonprofits run the programs, which are held at over 60 sites and rely heavily on federal grants under the Native Hawaiian Education program. But program leaders fear the number of sites could drop to fewer than 10 after this summer amid significant uncertainty around support for the Native Hawaiian Education program, whose funding was zeroed out in earlier versions of the federal budget.

The current budget package, which passed through the House last week, fully restores funding for the Native Hawaiian Education program. But even if the funding passes through Congress, providers say it’s unclear if the money will reach their programs as the government pulls back support for initiatives targeting minority groups and oversight of Native Hawaiian education undergoes significant change at the federal level.

At the same time, other sources of local funding for family learning programs are running dry, meaning that some sites are at risk of closing even if providers receive their federal grants on time.

If nonprofits have to close sites, it will be very hard to reopen them — even if more funding eventually comes through, said Momi Akana, executive director of Keiki O Ka ʻĀina, which operates a dozen family learning sites on Maui and Oʻahu. Programs need to remain consistently open if they want to retain teachers and build strong relationships with families, she said.

“The community doesn’t trust you if you start and stop,” she said, “which is what’s going to happen.”

Funding Uncertainty

Cuts to family learning programs could affect 3,000 families and result in the loss of more than 100 teacher positions, said Jared Ellis, policy lead at Early Childhood Action Strategy. Many programs are already struggling to keep up with demand from parents.

Free programs are particularly important in rural parts of the state, which tend to have fewer early learning options, said Shawn Kanaiaupuni, president and chief executive officer of Partners in Development Foundation. The foundation runs nearly 40 family learning sites across the state and served roughly 4,500 children and caregivers last year.

While the programs introduce kids to formal classroom settings and prepare them for kindergarten, they also strengthen families and support caregivers, who play a crucial role in children’s development and learning. Parents in Hawaiʻi often rely on family members and friends to watch their children, Kanaiaupuni said, but these caregivers may need additional resources around issues like screening their kids for developmental delays or developing a toddler’s vocabulary.

The programs often target Native Hawaiian communities that have traditionally been underserved by the public education system.

In Hauʻula, mother Tusiata Esera said she constantly searches for opportunities to take her 13-month-old daughter out in the community and meet other parents. But the local library and playgrounds don’t always have kids her daughters’ age, she said, and there are few child care programs close to home.

A family learning program, run by the nonprofit Keiki O Ka ʻĀina at the Hauʻula Civic Center, has been the perfect solution, allowing her to connect with other families and learn new activities to do at home with her daughter.

“She really likes school,” Esera said. “I think taking some of the things that we’re learning and doing them at home is a real gift.”

The program at the Hauʻula Civic Center is one of the dozens of sites at risk of closing after this school year as grants expire with no sources of replacement funding.

The vast majority of funding for family learning programs comes from the Native Hawaiian Education Program, which issues three-year grants to nonprofits providing these classes, Kanaiaupuni said. Partners in Development is currently in the final year of its grant cycle, meaning that funding will run out over the summer.

Roughly $20 million, or nearly half of the funding for the Native Hawaiian Education Program, goes toward early learning initiatives, Kanaiaupuni said.

The federal grants make up 80% of funding for family learning programs under the Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture, which operates a dozen sites serving 350 children and parents across the state, said chief executive officer Sanoe Marfil. If federal funding for the program is cut, she said, INPEACE would only be able to run a maximum of two sites.

While the House version of the federal budget includes $46 million for the Native Hawaiian Education Program, it’s still unclear when — or how — the funding will be appropriated to nonprofits. Congress must pass the spending package by Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Even if Congress funds the Native Hawaiian Education Program, it’s possible the department could still delay the distribution of grants to nonprofits, U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda said. Adding to the ongoing uncertainty, the Department of Education announced late last year that it planned to move the administration of the Native Hawaiian Education Program to the Department of the Interior, which has historically managed natural resources and cultural heritage issues.

“To put an educational responsibility and access to education into a department that has really no familiarity and no experience with education,” Tokuda said, “I feel like that’s doing a disservice to our Native Hawaiian students.”

The U.S. Department of Education has already moved to halt federal funding for Native Hawaiian initiatives at the University of Hawaiʻi, arguing that grants awarded on the basis of race are unconstitutional. INPEACE also saw a $1.6 million cut to its grants from the Native Hawaiian Education Program earlier this year, which supported a teacher preparation program.

Keiki O Ka ʻĀina could be facing its own budget shortfalls in the fall. While the organization also relies on grants from the Native Hawaiian Education Program, Akana said, their funding runs on a different cycle than other nonprofits and won’t expire for another year.

But half of the nonprofit’s sites heavily rely on state and county grants that will expire in the coming months, Akana said. There are currently no proposals to renew the grants for the following school year, she said, although the organization is looking for other funding sources keep these programs afloat.

The possible loss of six sites for Keiki O Ka ʻĀina could significantly impact students’ development and kindergarten preparedness, Akana said. Teachers at these sites would also need to find new jobs, she said, further disrupting the early educator workforce that Hawaiʻi has tried to build up for years.

Family learning programs also serve as an important pipeline for early educators, Marfil said, adding that parents who have completed the program with their children have gone on to become teachers.

“We are a hub for workforce development in education and early childhood education,” she said.

What Comes Next?

Amid the uncertain future of early learning programs, advocates are hoping the state will step in and fill the funding gaps. Two bills introduced earlier this month would appropriate funds to the Executive Office on Early Learning, which would be tasked with distributing money to family learning programs.

The bills don’t include a specific appropriation amount, although Kanaiaupuni estimates that family learning programs receive nearly $20 million in federal funds. Nonprofits are also seeking funding from other sources, including private donors, businesses and county governments, she said.

“The fact that we’re losing that capability just increases the likelihood that these families and these kids will struggle in the long term,” said state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, who introduced the bill. Families at risk of losing access to early learning programs are also likely affected by recent federal cuts to social services, he said.

Partners in Development Foundation operates the greatest number of family learning programs in the state, including one at the Onelau’ena Emergency Shelter in Kapolei. The site focuses on supporting homeless families but is open to all children.

But the state is already facing financial constraints amid significant federal cuts to food stamps and Medicaid programs, and the governor’s budget proposal excluded funding for key education initiatives. Even still, advocates are hopeful the state can find new sources of revenue that can help sustain these early learning programs, said Malia Tsuchiya, early childhood policy and advocacy coordinator at Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network.

In the case that some family learning sites need to shut down, Kanaiaupuni said, Partners in Development plans on working with community leaders to help transition families to other early education programs.

The state is currently working toward an ambitious goal of providing preschool access to all 3- and 4-year-olds by 2032 and recently added classrooms in rural areas of the state like Hana. While the expansion has helped relieve some demand for family learning programs, parents’ need for preschool and child care still outweighs the availability of seats in many communities.

The state’s preschool expansion is also targeted at expanding options for 3- and 4-year-olds, but many family learning programs serve large numbers of children from birth to age 2, who tend to have fewer child care options. It’s also important for families to have a variety of options when it comes to early learning: Some parents want a full-day preschool for their children, while others need programs that involve the whole family and allow them to learn alongside their kids, Kanaiaupuni said.

Parent Aimee Cueva has sent all four of her children to Partners in Development’s family learning program in Kapolei over the past five years. The free program meets her family’s financial needs, but it’s also given her parenting resources and friendships she wouldn’t have found if her kids attended a traditional preschool.

“I feel like being part of this program and with my family, we all grew together,” Cueva said. “We’re all learning together.”

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Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

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This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.