The latest schools and education news including coverage of the Hawaii Department of Education, the University of Hawaii system, national news and more.
Hawaii’s children are increasingly affected by housing instability and parental job insecurity, ranking the state among the worst in the nation for economic well-being, according to the 2025 KIDS COUNT Data Book released Monday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Read more
As the school year concludes, families across Hawaii can access a suite of free programs aimed at keeping children fed and healthy during the summer months — when many students lose access to the meals they usually receive at school. Read more
The Justice Department asked the court to halt Boston-based U.S. District Judge Myong Joun’s May 22 ruling that ordered the administration to reinstate employees terminated in a mass layoff and end further actions to shutter the department. Read more
The judge ruled that Trump’s directive prohibiting foreign nationals from entering the United States to study at Harvard for the next six months would cause “immediate and irreparable injury” before the courts have a chance to review the case. Read more
Franks is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 18 and is free on $50,000 bail. Read more
The alleged violation means that Columbia has not met the standards of accreditation set by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the department said. Read more
Thousands of public school students from low-income families will get free school lunches over the next two school years, while new rules also will go into effect designed to reduce cancellations of school bus routes. Read more
State and county officials broke ground this week on a $20 million workforce housing project aimed at providing rental units for public school employees in West Maui, many of whom continue to face housing challenges in the aftermath of the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires. Read more
The judge, Allison D. Burroughs, said she would extend an order from last week blocking the government’s attempts to prevent international students from enrolling at the school as the two sides continue to argue the matter in court. Read more
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A handful of American students have also expressed hesitation about attending a school without international students. And several students claimed to have been hassled at airports because of their Harvard visas, the court filing said. Read more
President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to ramp up deportations and revoke student visas as part of wide-ranging efforts to fulfill its hardline immigration agenda. Read more
The Maunakea Scholars program recognized 11 students from Waipahu High School during its annual awards ceremony at Waipahu High School on Friday, and awarded the $10,000 Hokuala Scholarship to graduating senior Mila Rexford. Read more
The move comes as the Trump administration has sought to ramp up deportations and revoke student visas as part of its wide-ranging efforts to fulfill his hardline immigration agenda. Read more
The additional planned cuts, outlined in a draft of the letter obtained by The New York Times, represented what an administration official called a complete severance of the government’s long-standing business relationship with Harvard. Read more
His comments on his social media platform Truth Social come less than a week after his administration sought to block the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students as part of Trump’s extraordinary effort to seize some government control of U.S. academia. Read more
The uptick in medical school students staying in Hawaii for residency training comes as the state faces an estimated deficit of 768 full-time physicians. Read more
Health care professionals can get up to $50,000 a year of debt relief for each of the two years they commit to working in the islands. Read more
More than 5,000 miles away, Wendy Hensel, president of the University of Hawaii, said that it was “reverberating across higher education.” Read more
In a complaint filed in Boston federal court earlier today, Harvard called the revocation a “blatant violation” of the Constitution and other federal laws, and had an “immediate and devastating effect” on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders. Read more
The administration notified Harvard about the decision after a back-and-forth in recent days over the legality of a sprawling records request as part of a Department of Homeland Security investigation, according to three people with knowledge of the negotiations. Read more
U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston, at the behest of a group of Democratic-led states, school districts and teachers’ unions, issued an injunction blocking the department from moving forward with a mass termination announced in March of over 1,300 employees, which would cut its staff by half. Read more
