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At a on Maui, Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona said that over 450 schools in Hawaii have some kind of STEM program.

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The program is geared toward developing student interest and skills in science and technology, according to the .

We’ve put Aiona’s words to the test.

At the debate, Aiona said while there were only 95 such programs in the state five years ago, there are many more in 2010. He takes credit for the program’s expansion.

“Since we got involved and we really made a push in improving that and enlarging that program, we now have over 450 schools that have some type of STEM program. I want to build on that. I want every school in the state to have a STEM program,“ Aiona said.

There is one problem with this statement. There just aren’t 450 public and private schools in Hawaii.

Here is a tally of schools that we know have STEM programs, according to , a website about the program in Hawaii:

• .

This adds up to 362 institutions.

Where are the other 108 schools that Aiona credited with having STEM programs?

Civil Beat contacted the Aiona-Finnegan Campaign to find out where Aiona got his numbers.

Travis Taylor, the campaign’s communications director, stated in an e-mail that the figures are based on a report by the which stated that there are over 450 robotics teams in Hawaii.

“Duke Aiona has been closely and actively involved with the development of STEM programs in Hawaii. He has attended nearly every robotics competition in the past three years, has personally visited teams at their schools and made personal phone calls to each of the head coaches of the FIRST Robotics program to encourage their continued participation in the stimulating programs,” Taylor said.

We tried to confirm the numbers with the Robotics Organizing Committee but they didn’t have a phone number or the number of Hawaii teams listed on their website. As for the number of robotics programs in Hawaii? We have six.

For context, Aiona did mention robotics at the debate. Here’s his full quote:

“We embarked on a very aggressive program to improve STEM education here in Hawaii. And I want to thank MEDB for its involvement in that and taking it to the next level. In 2005, about four years ago, five years ago, we only had about 95 programs that (sic) robotics or what we call STEM programs in the state of Hawaii. Science, technology, engineering and math. Since we got involved and we really made a push in improving that and enlarging that program, we now have over 450 schools that have some type of STEM program. I want to build on that. I want every school in the state to have a STEM program.”

But it’s worth pointing out that Aiona clearly said 450 schools, not teams. And we think it’s important that our elected officials get their facts straight.