[1] The organization ʻAha Pūnana Leo was founded in 1983 by a group of Hawaiian language educators including Larry Kimura, Kauanoe Kamanā, and William H. "Pila" Wilson.
Among its many consequences was the reestablishment of Hawaiian as an official language by a state constitutional convention in 1978, as part of a recognition of the cultural and linguistic rights of the people of Hawaii.
The law more relevant to the private Pūnana Leo was one which effectively banned the last remaining native speakers of Hawaiian from being teachers because they lacked, and were very unlikely ever to obtain, the proper credentials.
Opponents to the lobbying effort, including in particular the existing the preschool establishment, cited the potential harm to a child’s development that being educated by untrained individuals might cause.
The first-ever class of Pūnana Leo students graduated from high school in 1999, and in 2002 the Hilo campus of the University of Hawaii awarded the first master's degree completed entirely in the Hawaiian language.
[11] As of 2023[update], there were a total of thirteen Pūnana Leo preschools, with locations on five of the Hawaiian islands: Hawai‘i, Maui, Moloka‘i, O‘ahu and Kaua‘i.