State lawmakers on Wednesday sharply questioned education officials and leaders charged with ensuring teachers are adequately prepared over the issues of persistent teacher shortages, licensing backlogs and student achievement gaps — with some senators warning that delays in strengthening the teacher pipeline are harming students.

During a hearing on teacher preparation and workforce development, state Sen. Samantha DeCorte (R, Nanakuli-Waianae-Makaha) raised concerns about what she described as a lack of urgency in ensuring that teachers are licensed and students meet basic academic benchmarks.

“Student success,” DeCorte said, should be the standard for evaluating teacher quality, arguing that graduating students who read at a fourth-grade level is “offensive and insulting to any parent.”

“We can’t expect success from our students if we don’t expect success from our teachers,” she said. “And we can’t expect success from our teachers if we’re not holding them to a standard.”

DeCorte pointed to teachers in her district who have waited up to three years to complete the licensing process, calling it a “mark that’s being missed” as students continue to graduate without fundamental reading and job-readiness skills.

The hearing focused in part on the Teacher Education Coordinating Committee, or TECC, an advisory body established in 1965 to make recommendations on teacher preparation statewide.

TECC members said the committee works collaboratively with the Department of Education, the University of Hawaii system, private institutions and alternative certification programs.

The committee is composed of about 20 members representing public and private education, educator preparation programs, the Hawaii State Teachers Association and Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education, according to TECC representatives.

Higher Education Chair state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim (D, Kalihi-Fort Shafter-Red Hill) said she and other lawmakers were largely unfamiliar with the committee, despite its decades-long existence.

“That kind of worries me,” Kim said. “You guys seem to be kind of really low-key.”

Kerry Tom, a TECC facilitator and designee of the schools superintendent, said the committee recently adopted a five-year strategic plan focused on three goals: building teacher capacity, improving in-service teacher satisfaction, and advocating for competitive compensation and incentives.

TECC functions at a “macro” level, Tom said, setting statewide priorities while leaving individual educator preparation programs — including UH Manoa and 14 other approved providers — to design their own curricula.

UH Manoa’s College of Education Dean Nathan Murata said the committee initially outlined five objectives but narrowed them to three to focus on achievable outcomes. He said TECC recommendations have informed changes to teacher preparation programs and hiring processes.

Murata noted that UH Manoa graduates between 250 and 300 teachers annually, which he acknowledged is not enough to meet statewide demand. DOE officials said application and hiring reforms have reduced vacancies from as many as 1,000 in past years to fewer than 100 today.

However, lawmakers raised concerns about the quality and licensing status of teachers filling those positions. A December report by DOE and UH found that 48% of teachers in classrooms were not fully licensed.

Tom said the workforce now includes a mix of licensed teachers and emergency hires, many of whom are mid-career professionals transitioning into education. TECC is exploring ways to better support those individuals as they work toward certification.

Recruitment efforts have increasingly focused on developing “homegrown” teachers, Tom said, including outreach to middle and high school students, teacher pathway academies and partnerships aimed at attracting young people to the profession.

But state Sen. Troy Hashi­moto (D, Wailuku-Kahului- Waihee) said those efforts are falling short. He said the state needs to do more to recruit students directly out of high school, adding that the current pathway into teaching is not streamlined or accessible enough to make the transition easy.

Hashimoto criticized what he described as a lack of coordination between DOE, TECC and UH, calling reliance on international J-1 teachers a temporary “Band-Aid” rather than a long-term solution.

Enrollment data shared during the hearing showed low numbers of education majors statewide, including fewer than 300 students enrolled at UH Manoa’s College of Education in the 2024-25 academic year, and just nine bachelor’s-level education students on Maui.

“That data speaks for itself,” Hashimoto said. “We should be really, really concerned.”

Compensation also emerged as a key issue. DOE officials acknowledged that a $10,000 hiring bonus may not be sufficient given Hawaii’s cost of living, particularly in hard-to-fill areas such as special education.

When DeCorte asked where efforts to increase pay stall, Kim responded with a laugh, “It’s us, unfortunately … We don’t give them the money.”

DOE officials said retention remains a challenge, with just over 50% of teachers remaining in the workforce after five years. By comparison, UH Manoa reports a 90% retention rate among its graduates beyond five years.

Tom said DOE separation data shows many teachers are leaving the state altogether, citing factors such as affordability, military transfers and transience.

Lawmakers also questioned the DOE’s claim that it processed 11,000 teacher applications to fill about 1,000 vacancies. DOE officials explained that a shift to a pooled application system inflated aggregate numbers by allowing candidates to apply to multiple positions.

TECC members said the committee meets monthly and regularly invites legislators to attend. Murata said Kim had been invited but was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts.

Kim responded that awareness remains an issue.

“It’s hard when we don’t even know you exist,” she said.

As the hearing concluded, several senators said they expect clearer data, stronger coordination and more aggressive action to build a sustainable teacher pipeline — warning that continued delays will have lasting consequences for students, families and communities across the state.

(BIVN) – The National Weather Service in Honolulu has issued a Coastal Hazard Message for the Hawaiian Islands, warning of isolated minor coastal flooding in the coming days. 

The Coastal Flood Statement says impacts include “flooding of beaches that are normally dry, minor coastal erosion, and saltwater inundation of low-lying roads, docks, boat ramps, and other coastal infrastructure,” in vulnerable low-lying coastal areas on all islands. 

The National Weather Service explained the reason for the coastal flooding in a Thursday statement:

Two significant northwest swells are expected to impact the state over the next few days. The first moderate to large, long period northwest swell will peak overnight tonight into early morning Friday. The second overlapping, larger, long period northwest swell will build in on Friday and peak late Friday into Saturday before subsiding through the rest of the weekend. The first swell will produce High Surf Advisory (HSA) conditions tonight for north and west facing shores of Niʻihau, Kauai and Oʻahu. The peak of the second will push surf height above warning levels from late Friday through Saturday for the same northwest islands, expect the HSA to expand in coverage to the islands of Molokai, Maui and west facing shores of the Big Island by Friday. A combination of large surf and higher than predicted water levels will lead to flooding of beaches that typically remain dry, especially at and around the peak daily tide.

The minor flooding will occur at and around the daily peak tides, and will be possible through the overnight and early morning hours of Friday, through Monday. 

The Hawaii Army National Guard on Wednesday unveiled a memorial to honor the Hawaii-born soldiers who were on the U.S. Army Transport Royal T. Frank when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on Jan. 28, 1942, in waters off North Kohala.

Family members of those soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 299th Cavalry Regiment, were in attendance at the Keaukaha Military Reservation in Hilo to observe the unveiling of the memorial.

According to an account in the National Archives, the Royal T. Frank’s final voyage occurred in a particularly tense time period in Hawaii. Japanese submarines were active in Hawaiian waters and had already sunk three ships.

A submarine had also surfaced to shell Maui’s Kahului Harbor, and others had fired at Hilo and Nawiliwili Harbor on Kauai. As a precaution, on its final voyage, the Royal T. Frank was part of a three-ship convoy that included a Navy destroyer.

Aboard the Frank were 26 soldiers from Hawaii Island who had just completed boot camp at Schofield Barracks on Oahu.

According to declassified government documents, a Japanese submarine fired on the transport just after 7 o’clock on the morning of Jan. 28, 1942, an estimated 30 miles north of Upolu Point in the Alenuihaha Channel. Two earlier torpedoes had missed.

An official account given by one of the ship’s officers and published in mainland newspapers (which were not subject to Hawaii’s martial law), states that the third torpedo had moved deceptively slowly prior to impact.

“I saw a torpedo coming straight at us. It veered as it approached. It appeared to be moving very slowly and seemed to be running down. It struck opposite the starboard boiler. There was a terrific explosion. As soon as I had seen the wake (of the torpedo), I ran forward shouting ‘torpedo!’” said the unnamed officer in an official account released by U.S. Army authorities and reported by the New York Times on Feb. 11, 1942.

Those below deck were killed by the initial explosion. Above deck, shrapnel killed the ship’s captain and others, and the vessel sank in less than a minute.

According to the National Archives account, of the 60 people aboard the Frank, only 36 survived. Survivors of the explosion included nine of the Hawaii Island soldiers who had been above deck and 27 crew members. Some were thrown into the water, and others jumped in afterwards.

Covered in oil, the survivors spent hours in the ocean, many clinging to whatever debris they could, before they were picked up by the ammunition barge that had been the actual target of the Japanese submarine.

The nine Hawaii Island soldiers, all privates, who survived the attack were George Taketa, Yoshio Ogomori, John R. Souza, Takimaru Takamoto, Shizuo Toma, Shigeru Ushijima, Haruo Yarnashita, Susuma Yoshioka and Tsutomu “Mac” Wakimoto. They would become known as the “Torpedo Gang.”

Fourteen Hawaii Island soldiers and three from Oahu were killed in the attack. All were privates.

The 14 Hawaii Island men were: lwao Nakamura, Yoshito Nii, Larry M. Oku, Reginald M. Osato, John Perreira, John S. Rodrigues, Raymond H. Shirakawa, Yeishun A. Soken, Bushichi Tani, Pemal C. Torrijos, Alfred Veriato, Torao Yamamizu, Albert H. Yano and Yonezo Yonemura.

The three Oahu men were Shoii Okido, Shinichi Shigi and Hook Y. Young.