Candidate Speaks Out on Education Spending

Danny Pekus is running for House of Representatives, District 11, South Maui. Joe Kent interviewed him as a part of The Grassroot Institute with Keli’i Akina, a radio show on KAOI 1110AM Maui
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Joe: “What is your opinion about the way education looks in Kihei?”

Danny: “I believe we should be able to graduate more students. The school that is set to be built in Kihei is not gonna be completed til 2020. I think the biggest problem is the cost is exorbitant.”

Joe: “How much does it cost?”

Danny: “Well, the tag right now is $130 million and they say it could go up because of the time delay.”

Joe: “And how does that compare to a typical public school?”

Danny: “The most expensive public schools in the nation are built in New York City–$204 per square foot–and there you gotta pull permits, block roads; crews take 3-5 hours to get material to jobs because of the congestion and the population. Yet our school here is priced at $604 a square foot, which is way too high. Especially for an island of 160,000 people.”

Listen to the full interview here: