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More than a year and a half after then-Gov. David Ige signed a new law providing more First Amendment protections for student journalists, the Board of Education has yet to officially revise its policy regarding censorship in school-sponsored publications.

The provides freedom of speech and press protections to school-sponsored student publications at public schools similar to those afforded professional journalists, said Cynthia Reves, one of the bill’s primary advocates and an adviser for McKinley High School’s newspaper, The Pinion. The law also safeguards advisers from any retaliation for upholding student press freedom.

Board of Education Executive Director Capsun Poe said the revision process was complicated but board members were working with the Department of Education to implement the law.

While an exact date for policy implementation remains uncertain, Poe said it will likely be done within the current year.

“Doing it this way does allow thoughtful planning and implementation to occur,” Poe said, “and as a policymaking body, that is what we want the board to do and to have.” 

Administrators and faculty previously had unregulated control over student-run media content, Reves said. While primarily protecting high school students, the bill also extends to college journalists, including at the University of Hawaii.

“The drafters of the constitution knew how important it was to have outside scrutiny of government and power in the form of a free and open press,” said Nate Gronewold, adviser of UH’s student newspaper, Ka Leo.

Ige signed the bill into law on May 23, 2022.

But the Board of Education’s to determine the content of school-sponsored publications, a stance at odds with the provisions outlined in the law. 

Despite the misalignment, there has been an absence of urgency in the revision process, Reves said. The Board of Education is engaged in a nine-step process of policy revision, having concluded the fifth step earlier this month, Poe said.

This law is the fruit of more than six years of advocacy by , faculty, Reves and others in the local journalism community. 

“It clarifies the rights and responsibilities of everybody involved in student journalism,” Reves said. “It makes it very clear what can be constrained and censored. Before this law, censorship guidelines were very vague.”

Reves expressed hope the new law would be implemented by May in time for the graduation of one of her lead student advocates. “He will be the last student who has been involved in the legislative process and been with me on this journey,” she said.

The law made Hawaii the 16th state to champion student journalistic freedoms, joining the national movement of led by the Student Press Law Center, Reves said. That initiative seeks to rectify the consequences of the 1988 U.S. Supreme Court case, Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, which created ambiguity in student journalism censorship standards. 

According to the Student Press Law Center, the Supreme Court’s decision opened the door to widespread censorship of students for “virtually any reason.”

Testimony in support of the law emphasized the vital role that newsroom freedom plays in nurturing the next generation of journalists.

“As journalists, we are already held to a high level of ethics and codes,” Krista Rados, a former Ka Leo editor-in-chief, said during the debate of the law. “But our best work can only be done if there is no fear of retaliation from those who have more power than us. We are truth-seekers, and nothing more.”

Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.