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I've been a teacher in Hawaii for 15 years, so I know something of this issue.

The school & trust are the result of a will of a Hawaiian royal princess, married to a Caucasian banker. In her will she directed money to be used for the children of Hawaii, especially those of Hawaiian blood, and especially the poor and orphaned.

The real scandal and injustice today is that they rigorously recruit only the best and brightest, no matter what percent of Hawaiian blood a person has. The result is that the middle and upper class with any trace of Hawaiian blood who have academic skill, along with the finest athletes, make up the student body. All of the truly needy Hawaiian kids, those generally with a greater portion of Hawaiian blood, from underpriveliged homes, broken families, dyslexic, suffering any kind of learning disability, of which the public schools are filled, are all denied admission.

Yes, a private school by rights has the student body it targets. The real issue here is that this richest of estates in the United States runs a school to qualify one of its arms as non-profit, rewards local judges and politicians with membership on its boards, and uses its money so extravagantly at the school without adhereing to the will of its founder.

Their preventing the truly needy of this state from what is rightfully theirs according to the will, while at the same time spending money in the most extravagant manner on its preppy best & brightest, is the real scandal.

Did I mention that breakfast and lunch is all provided free? That they help their graduates with college tuition? That teachers get in the tens of thousands to run their classrooms on incidental expenses? That the finest Koa wood panelling lines the hallways? Any idea of the state of our public schools by contrast? The pregnancy rate, the amount of fights per day, the drug use? So many of these kids with any Hawaiian blood could escape their plight with a good disciplined school, but the very kids who need it are excluded.

The system is perpetuated by those who make it in keeping it that way. No one speaks of the injustice of the system for fear of getting kicked off the gravy train, or not being able to climb aboard.

The debate is over the term "Hawaiian children" and the Princess' intent.
- Her will does not require "Hawaiian blood"
- She married a white man (who earned the trust)
- Royalty at the time were concerned with improving Hawaii in general (encouraging Christian missionaries to come to Hawaii, for example).
Easy to see how some conclude she wanted all children of Hawaii to have access to the school, in order to make Hawaii a better place (and not just native Hawaiians with at least 1/32 blood).

Those administering the trust have been crooks... all five were replaced six years ago when evidence came out how they used the trust to enrich themselves. This is a lot about power. Like "jobim" said, if they wanted to help the children, they would spend some of that money on more than the three campuses they have now so more kids could attend.

A trust worth nearly 7 billion… more than Harvard University… and what have they achieved? Where are the Hawaiian great men and women these schools were supposed to produce?