Kupuna call for audit of payments

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

A group of elders who work in the public schools' Hawaiian Studies Program are pressing lawmakers for an audit of the program, charging that school officials have been erratic in how the elders are employed and paid.

In testimony last week, the two Senate committees that handle proposals dealing with education and Hawaiian affairs heard from kupuna and makua — grandparents and parents working in what has come to be known as the Kupuna Program, which teaches Hawaiiana in public elementary schools.

They spoke on Friday in support of Senate Concurrent Resolution 61, which finds that there is inconsistent use of money for the program across the state and calls for a fiscal audit.

The resolution is an initiative of Ka Lei Papahi 'o Kakuhihewa, an organization of the program's employees. Keali'i Gora, the group's president, said he surveyed the roughly 200 employees last fall and received complaints from some saying they were paid at the educational assistant rate of $10.44 per hour; the law asserts that, because the kupuna and makua provide classroom instruction, they should be paid as part-time teachers, or $19.97 per hour.

"These kupuna and makua have been underpaid over $12,000 per person for the last two years," Gora said. "This is highly egregious, fiscally irresponsible and operationally unconscionable."

He also testified that "many schools do not implement Hawaiian studies in all grade levels." Additionally, Gora questioned where surplus money goes in frequent cases when kupuna lessons — and their pay for the day — are canceled without notice.

Gora's concerns were echoed by group members Kimo Kamaka, Lokelani Moreno and others, and by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

The state Department of Education has opposed the measure, saying that better training of school staff on implementing the program would accomplish the same ends as an audit.

Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.