Free school meals are popular. Hawaiʻi isn’t sold.
Three years after lawmakers first considered making school meals free for all kids, students and teachers are still pushing for change.
Hawaiʻi’s hunger crisis is here, and urgent
We find ourselves in the midst of a hunger crisis driven by sky-high living costs, cuts to essential nutrition supports, and food systems that don’t work for all of us.
Hawaiʻi coalition calls for tax fairness for local needs
As Hawaiʻi struggles to meet growing needs in housing, education, health care and climate resilience, a broad coalition of community groups, labor unions and nonprofit advocates is pushing lawmakers to confront a long-standing question: how to pay for it.
Economic prosperity rises from the bottom up
The Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice looks at the recent legislative session's hits and misses in this Community Voice column for Aloha State Daily.
Proposed cuts to food stamps program could be ‘horrific’ in Hawaiʻi
Under current proposals, Hawaiʻi could face more than $100 million in new costs to maintain the food stamp program.
Hawaiʻi lawmakers plan special sessions to address federal funding cuts
State lawmakers are blocking off three dates in the coming months for a special legislative session to address federal funding cuts.
State officials discuss expansion of free school meals
SB1300 would require the state DOE to appropriate funding for meals for students who come from households classified as “asset limited, income restrained, employed,” (ALICE).
Keiki Caucus introduces 2025 legislative package
Legislators and advocates identified five top priority issues impacting Hawaiʻi’s youth and families, including tax credits for household and dependent care services, funding for community schools, paid family leave, e-cigarette regulations, and universal free school breakfast and lunches.
Hawaiʻi families could face big price hike for school meals
Charging elementary and middle school students $4.75 for lunch would be a huge hit to working families, advocates say.
Kuhio housing residents sue
The federal case alleges that the public housing project violates the American with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act and the Fair Housing Act. The state case alleges a breach of obligation by the state under its warranty of habitability.
Suit puts 88 more homeless students in school
U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor ordered the Education Department to revise enrollment forms and computer registration programs to better identify, track and service homeless students as part of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987.
Homeless students can ride buses
The state will assist families to ensure they attend school.
Buses required for homeless students
The settlement requires the state to improve transportation to and from public schools for students living in shelters, cars or on beaches, as well as to improve programs to locate and identify children in need of such services.
DOE gets deadline to track homeless
The Feb. 19 order comes about a week after a judge sided with three homeless families who sued the state for allegedly failing to provide them an adequate education under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987.
Children left behind
Homeless families sue the DOE for failing to educate their children in accordance with federal law.
Hawaiʻi violates equal-access law, ACLU says
The state violates a federal law that mandates equal access to education for homeless students by making them switch schools when they move and not letting them enroll in new schools without documentation, according to lawyers suing the school system.
Community Matters: Interview with William Durham of LEJ
Despite receiving federal monies, Hawaiʻi schools are turning homeless children away at the school house door, forcing them to change school multiple times in a single year, and denying them basic transportation services necessary to attend.
Suit alleges Hawaiʻi fails homeless kids
The state has failed so badly at helping homeless children get to and from public schools that federal courts should intervene in the situation, according to a class-action lawsuit