As most states are expanding early childhood education and access to quality care, Hawaii has cut back on early childhood services and has decreased overall funding for underserved and at-risk young children.

Between 2006 and 2009, Hawaii went from second only to Massachusetts for providing safety net services for children with special needs and their families, to one of the bottom 10 as basic safety net services were slashed from 2008.

Unfortunately, the children affected were underrepresented in the halls of the Legislature, and, in many cases, their parents belong to disenfranchised groups subjected to many societal barriers, especially poverty.

Poverty isn’t just about a lack of money, but involves a complex web of challenges that keep young children from being ready for school. The elimination of these safety net services for young children only puts off the payment of a much higher price for the state: special education for school-age children: welfare; and other adult and family social services that result from lack of early intervention.

On the chopping block is the Preschool Open Doors (POD) program, which is at risk of shrinking again unless the Legislature moves to shore up $6 million in subsidies funding. Currently, only $1.6 million is included in the proposed budget.

Since 1990, the state Department of Human Services (DHS) has administered this program, allowing low-income families with children between the ages of 3 and 4 to access DHS-licensed child care. With recent changes in prioritizing funding for late-born 5-year-olds (born between August and December), subsidies were no longer available for families with 3-year-olds in the latest grant cycle.

Last week, the House Finance Committee voted to advance Senate Bill 64 to save the current level of POD subsidies: $7.6 million total covering 1,287 children and their families. If nothing is done to restore current-level funds, more than 1,000 children will be affected in this current POD open enrollment, which is accepting applications for the next budget cycle. However, these children are just a small percentage of more than 5,000 children no longer eligible to go to kindergarten because of a change in the age requirement for registration made last year.

DHS data reveals that 47 percent of the children receiving POD subsidies in 2014 come from single-parent homes. Child care is generally the second-largest expense in family budgets after housing costs, averaging $8,052 in 2012. The average income of families served by POD is $33,000 annually.

Larger populations of children served by this safety net program come from West and Central Oahu and Hawaii Island. Several parents who submitted testimony on this bill indicated they might be forced to cut back or even quit their jobs to go on welfare because they will no longer be able to afford placing their children in child care.

According to the Hawaii State School Readiness Assessment for 2012-13, more than 40 percent of children entering kindergarten had not attended a pre-kindergarten program, and more than 90 percent of students in Department of Education classrooms did not meet benchmarks in all dimensions of school readiness. Preparing young children to be prepared to learn through preschool can help reverse this trend.

As a community, it makes sense to support services that nurture healthy Hawaii families. Investments in high-quality early education generate economic returns of over $8 for every $1 spent. Funding for programs like Preschool Open Doors is one way of making that investment in Hawaii’s families.

Let’s broaden the conversation about opportunity: Urge legislators not just to build safety nets for those in need, but also to help keiki in Hawaii get a good beginning to a thriving future.