Hawaii DOE Still Doesn’t Have A Plan For How To Spend Farm-To-School Funds

More than a year after the Hawaii Department of Education sparked ire by instructing schools not to apply for funding from a $650,000 federal food grant it had helped secure, the agency has yet to produce a clear plan for how it will use the grant before it expires.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Local Food for Schools grant would allow schools to purchase Hawaii-grown produce like bok choy and sweet potatoes and could help DOE meet a legislative mandate to spend nearly a third of its food budget on local ingredients by 2030.

Hawaii received a one-year extension on the federal grant and has until June 2025 to spend the funds. After that, the money will return to the federal government, said U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda.

“Good intentions and need are not enough,” Tokuda said. “We have to make sure we will actually be able to get the money to where it’s needed most.”

Farm-to-school advocates say they haven’t seen any concrete plans for how DOE plans to spend its share of the USDA grant. The nearly $650,000 grant is split between DOE and charter schools, with the department initially receiving $500,000 of the funding.

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