Kamehameha Schools Has an Old Is New Again Moment

Kamehameha Schools (KS) is facing a tragedy of a lawsuit that may have even been avoidable if KS had been tuition-free. Instead, the education for many Hawaiian students is now at risk despite consensus from governors, trustee candidates, and the school to drive a tuition-free mandate through the courts (part of the stipulations of the trust). If everyone agrees that it should be tuition-free, why did it take this nefarious outside force to justify this move? 

KS holds a $15 billion endowment, yet still charges families roughly $6,000 per student each year. Eliminating tuition (per student) would effectively add roughly 10% back to a family’s median household income. That kind of relief compounds. It creates room to start businesses, pay for caregiving, take a vacation, or simply stabilize a family’s footing. KS has the opportunity to treat investment in Hawaiian families as its true core responsibility. By doing so, this helps create the generational wealth needed to keep more Hawaiians home.

Today, foundations across the country are using their assets, in addition to doling out cash, to seed the conditions needed for community to thrive. Major foundations that ultimately delay leveraging endowments will shed moral authority over time. KS could go one step further than tuition-free and use that endowment to leverage workforce housing for their own educators and families (start there), or to subsidize more farmers and local food production that makes a large dent beyond what’s happening now. 

This is the year the KS leadership steps out to serve those that they have been entrusted to serve: Hawaiian students and families. KS can show the world what’s possible as a reaction to this lawsuit.

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