states requiring public and charter schools to# provide free menstrual products for students.

Kate Nakamura from our Student# Reporting Labs has the story.

SARAH KERN, Representative, Ma'i Movement# Hawaii: All the public places that we have## access to as citizens, if there's toilet# pa there should also be period products stocked.

KATE NAKAMURA: Not being able to afford# mens poverty.

It's an issue of inequity that# is familiar to teachers like Sarah Kern who witnessed the issue while teaching# at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School.

SARAH KERN: I saw a lot of period poverty# at our school.

It was mostly indirect.## There's a lot of students who would go# to the health room to get their products,# and that resulted in missing class time.

I personally and a lot of teachers# would provide products to students,## so I would always keep some in my desk.

KATE NAKAMURA: Hawaii State# Representative Amy Perruso be en advocating for period poverty# ST ATE REP. AMY PERRUSO (D-HI): When we talk# about, for example, Hawaii public schools,## the vast majority of our menstruators live in# fairly high-poverty KATE NAKAMURA: It took several years of lobbying,# but students and advocates celebrated a victory## in June 2022, when legislation requiring# the Hawaii Department of Education to## provide free menstrual products in public and# charter schools was signed by the governor.

Hawaii is now among nine states in the u.s to do# so, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies.## It's already making a difference to students like# Breanne Battulayan, who attends Kauai High School.

BREANNE BATTULAYAN, Student: The first time# I saw it was in P.E., and I was like, oh,## my gosh.

Wait.

I don't have to carry my# big period just have a pad right there that# I can just grab from the wall.

KATE NAKAMURA: Kern, who serves as the# Kauai representative for the Ma'i a nonprofit organization working to# eliminate period poverty in Hawaii,## in addition to teaching, says expansion of# access to free menstrual products in other## spaces in the community, such as university# campuses, will benefit local menstruators.

SARAH KERN: One of the next steps to getting# period products more widely accessible## throughout the state is definitely getting# them free and accessible in the U.H.

syste so the community colleges U.H.

West Oahu,# U.H.

Manoa, U.H.

Hilo, all of those campuses.

KATE NAKAMURA: Representative Perruso,# who supports this bill in the state House,## knows that there are many challenges# that come along with creating ch STATE REP. AMY PERRUSO: I think that the most# difficult obstacle is the education piece,## because, sometimes, not always, but sometimes,# legislators live in their own bubbles, right?

So -- and that can affect the quality of# their policymaking.

So, if they are not## actively seeking out young people and trying# to identify the concerns of young people,## and then working to address them, then they're# never going to be engaging with young people.

KATE NAKAMURA: For "PBS# NewsHour" Student Reporting Labs,## I'm Kate Nakamura in Lehua (ph), Hawaii.