Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D)
Date of Speech: Jan. 21
In his annual address to lawmakers, Gov. Neil Abercrombie emphasized the importance of early-childhood education, praising legislators’ support of the state’s Preschool Open Doors program but urging them to do even more to support young learners.
The Preschool Open Doors program will provide financial assistance to 1,200 4-year-olds who are no longer eligible to begin kindergarten this year because of an age-requirement change that moved the cutoff date for incoming kindergartners, who must be 5 by July 31 instead of Dec. 31.
But that assistance isn’t enough to cover the nearly 5,000 children who will be affected by the change, said Gov. Abercrombie, who proposed partnering with 32 classrooms for direct preschool services and has requested $8 million in extra resources to support an additional 1,040 families “who otherwise have little or no options,” he said.
