Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 2, 1 September 1981 — Education [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Education

The OHA Committee on Education, under the co-chairmanship of Peter K. Apo and Dr. A. Leiomalama Solomon, has just completed an intensive round of meetings. All members expressed their mana'o for establishing the number one legislative priority for the 1982 session. The single most glaring issue emerging from the session was the need for OHA to advocate full implementation of a Hawaiian Education Program within the public school system as mandated by Article X, Section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution. However, such a program cannot be created without the cooperation of the whole educational community, and the educational community in Hawaii is extremely complex. The decision-making processes, for example, are spread out over a vast bureaucratic complex that includes everything from legislative eommittees to non-accredited community programs. All of the various interests could have significant impact on the success or failure of a total program. Therefore, their support is absolutely necessary. In advocating the full implementation of Article X, Section 4, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs will be asking the 1982 Legislature to create some type of forum for a full discussion of the issue. This forum could be a commission, an interim legislative sub-committee, or some other body convened to develop official recommendations regarding a Hawaiian Education Program. OHA hopes to play a key role in the formulation of programs and policies that implement the constitutional mandate. Fruition of the idea will require a long and painstaking political process. To gain the support of all the affected educational institutions, we will meet with the appropriate educational and poliheal leaders to discuss the issue and its implications. Task forces composed of community leaders will be convened to develop an agenda and statement of objectives to present to the Legislature or to a legislative interim committee. Other items received attention during our recent round of committee meetings: • Creation of a "Hawaiian Education Trust Fund" whieh would serve as both a receiving and disbursing mechanism for scholarship funds. • The staging of a Hawaiian Language, History, and Culture Conferenee. • Development of a comprehensive audio-visual library relating to OHA's major program areas (Culture, Education, Eeonomie Development, Health and Human Resources, Land and Natural Resources). Collections for eaeh program area would be made available to the general public. • A systematic canvassing of Hawaiian communities for ideas eonsidered relevant to their needs, with emphasis on community-based educational projects. • The continuation of the development of a long-range educational plan. All of these suggestions set forth within this report have yet to be sanctioned by the OHA Board of Trustees. The Education Committee received and reviewed a total of 52 'Ili 'Ili grant applications. We would like to say a public mahalo to all the volunteer committee members mentioned individually in our last issue. They have worked hard and given mueh support to efforts to increase the educational opportunities for our people.

Apo

Solomon