Estate will ax
about 30 workers

Kamehameha Schools said it will lay off about 30 workers as part of an ongoing plan to cut noneducation expenses.

Kekoa Paulsen, spokesman for the Kamehameha Schools, said the trust notified workers on Wednesday about the layoffs, which take effect next month and the end of June.

The 30 workers are among the 350 noneducational support staff employed by the trust. Most were employed in the estate's Kawaiahao Street headquarters and several were longtime support staffers at the downtown offices, people familiar with the trust said.

Paulsen said the cuts are part of the trust's ongoing effort to focus on educational services. The estate is in the fifth year of a 15-year plan to vastly expand the number of native Hawaiians that it serves.

Founded by the 1884 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the estate is a charitable trust set up to educate native Hawaiians. The trust is the state's largest private landowner with more than 365,000 acres.

The move comes after the $6.2 billion trust's revenues rose sharply. Earlier this month, Kamehameha Schools reported that revenues for its 2004 fiscal year rose to $838.8 million from $544.4 million in 2003.

During the same period, the trust's spending on educational programs increased by $1 million to $221 million.