THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS CLAIMS THAT IF FEDERAL RECOGNITION ISN'T PASSED, NATIVE HAWAIIAN FUNDING IS AT RISK.
SO LET'S LOOK AT EXACTLY WHAT'S AT RISK -
Federal appropriations in fiscal 2002 for all 250,000 people who call themselves Native Hawaiian included -
Education - $30.5 million / 250,000 Hawaiians = $122.00 per Hawaiian. How much education can you buy this year with $122.00? If teachers are making say 30,000/year you could hire 1016 teachers. That means there would only have to be 246 Hawaiians per classroom.
Affordable housing - $9.6 million/250,000 Hawaiians= $38.40 per Hawaiian. How much of your yearly rental costs does $38.40 cover?
Health care - $7 million /250,000 Hawaiians= $28.00 per Hawaiian. How much dental and medical insurance can you buy with $28.00? Maybe get only half your teeth cleaned this year and hope you don't get sick?
Strengthening community colleges (academics) - $3.25 million /250,000 Hawaiians= $13.00 per Hawaiian. How many units of academic instruction does $13.00 cover at a community college these days?
Vocational education - $2.9 million/250,000 Hawaiians = $11.60 per Hawaiian. What can you learn how to do for $11.60?
Community development - $2 million/250,000 Hawaiians= $8.00 per Hawaiian. How much Community infrastructure does $8.00 buy?
Strengthening community colleges (agriculture) - $1.5 million /250,000 Hawaiians= $6.00 per Hawaiian. What does $6.00 buy in the way of agricultural education at community college these days?
Housing loan guarantees - $1 million /250,000 Hawaiians = $4.00 per Hawaiian. How much of your annual mortgage does $4.00 cover?
Culture and arts - $740,000/250,000 Hawaiians= $2.96 per Hawaiian For $2.96, about all the culture you can afford is a plastic kukui nut lei.
Looks like about $233.96 per Hawaiian total ...less administrative costs of course.
