[9] It was developed at the bequest of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop to educate children of Hawaiian descent, and is designed to serve students from preschool through twelfth grade.

"[10] In 1883, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a member of the Hawaiian Royal Family,[12][13][14] directed in her will, after naming heirs for gifts of money and land, that the remainder of her estate be held in trust to create the Kamehameha Schools.

She also directed the Hawaiʻi (Kingdom) Supreme Court to appoint replacement trustees and required that all teachers be Protestant, without regard to denomination.

In 1991, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) brought suit against Kamehameha Schools alleging that its requirement that all teachers be Protestant was religious discrimination in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

On August 9, 1997, University of Hawaiʻi (UH) Board of Regents Chair (and former Kamehameha Schools Principal) Gladys Brandt, retired judge Walter Heen, Msgr.

Charles Kekumano, federal judge Samuel Pailthorpe King, and UH William S. Richardson School of Law professor Randall Roth published a report titled Broken Trust in the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

In her report on September 10, 1997, she found that "the rights of the beneficiaries may be at substantial risk," and that there were "credible allegations that the intent of Bernice Pauahi Bishop is not being implemented.

"[26] Another essay appeared in November, with Brandt, UH Professor Isabella Abbott, respected Hawaiian cultural educator Winona Beamer, and others as authors.

[27] The investigation continued through 1998, when Attorney General Bronster sought the permanent removal of Lindsey and fellow trustees Richard Wong and Henry Peters.

"[28]: 268 In 2002, the Hawaii Supreme Court threw out the criminal indictments against three Bishop Estate trustees on procedural grounds and ruled no new charges could be brought.

[3] In 2010, Kamehameha undertook a $118.5 million construction project featuring a brand-new middle school, a Hawaiian cultural center, a new athletics building, and a parking structure.

[38] Kamehameha is also redeveloping several of its urban real estate properties in Haleʻiwa, Kāhala, Kakaʻako, Kapālama, and Mōʻiliʻili to revitalize those areas and increase commercial revenue.

[38] On October 22, 2013, Kamehameha Schools announced that it would sell the buildings of its largest single real estate property (in terms of value), the Royal Hawaiian Center.

The school was a party to the lawsuit due to their ownership of large parcels of land which were poorly maintained, which in turn fed the wildfires.

Acceptance rates at the Maui and Hawaiʻi campuses are generally higher, ranging from approximately 9.2% to 24%, due to those islands' smaller populations and the lack of boarding students at those facilities.

[10] In accordance with a century-old interpretation of the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Kamehameha Schools gives preference to applicants of Native Hawaiian descent "to the extent permitted by law."

[citation needed] Kamehameha's admissions policy was the focus of two federal lawsuits, which contended that preferring Native Hawaiians is a race-based exclusion that violates U.S. civil rights law.

Chief Judge David Alan Ezra issued a temporary restraining order requiring Kamehameha to admit Mohica-Cummings.

[45] In June 2003 a suit was filed on behalf of an unidentified non-Hawaiian student, claiming that preferring Hawaiian applicants violates provisions of the Civil Rights Act that prohibits racial discrimination in private contracts.

[53] The majority ruled that Kamehameha's policy does not run afoul of a civil rights law, citing what it said were unique factors in the history of Hawaiʻi, the socioeconomic plight of Native Hawaiians, and the schools' distinctively remedial mission, which Congress has repeatedly endorsed.

The dissent stated that civil rights law "prohibits a private school from denying admission to prospective students because of their race."

[8] On August 6, 2008, Kamehameha Schools announced that it had sued John Doe for breaching a confidentiality agreement by making the settlement amount public.

[56] Also in 2008, John Doe's attorneys, Eric Grant and David Rosen, filed another lawsuit against Kamehameha on behalf of four other non-Hawaiian children who wanted to attend the school.

As in the prior John Doe lawsuit, the plaintiffs sought to proceed anonymously, fearing harassment if their identities were made public.

[57] Later that year, the Ninth Circuit refused a request for rehearing en banc, although several judges wrote lengthy dissents, referring to "Kill Haole Day" at Hawaii's schools and arguing the plaintiffs' safety would be jeopardized without anonymity.

The campuses offer academies for arts and communication, business and leadership, engineering and design, health and wellness, and science and natural resources.

It also offers various supplementary courses in Hawaiian culture, history, literature, song composition and performance, chant, dance, and crafts.

The program includes an archived series of instructional videos entitled Kulāiwi for learning the Hawaiian language; these are available for free online streaming.

Along with the Ke Aliʻi Pauahi Foundation, Kamehameha offers a variety of need- and merit-based scholarships for those pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate education.

"[69] The Kamehameha Schools Song Contest is an annual choral competition in which groups of students of the Kapālama campus perform Hawaiian mele.