Elite Hong Kong school threatened with eviction by US Church
The operator of a top Hong Kong school that offers an American-style education is being sued by its US-based founder and threatened with possible eviction.
The operator of a top Hong Kong school that offers an American-style education is being sued by its US-based founder and threatened with possible eviction.
The dispute over Hong Kong International School centers on the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s allegation that the institution is being run “seemingly only for the rich.” The synod, which founded HKIS in 1966 and appointed Hong Kong International School Association Ltd. to operate it, has accused the association of breaching the operating agreement that it be open to all and run as a community school with Christian values.
If the two sides can’t reach an agreement, the synod will move to evict the association so it can run a new school on the same site, to be called Hong Kong Pacific School, according to Christian Preus, chair of the synod’s board of directors.
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“There are governance issues,” Preus said in an interview on Thursday. “They don’t have a fundamental objective. Only that the wealthy have access to the school.”
The dispute is putting a spotlight on a Hong Kong institution that has educated the children of thousands of bankers, lawyers and other professionals in one of Asia’s most important financial hubs. The yawning wealth gap has long been a sensitive issue in the city. Hong Kong’s richest earned 81 times more than its poorest in the first quarter of 2024, up from 52 times the year before, according to a report by Oxfam’s local office.
HKIS’s chair of the board, Harold Kim, said Thursday that the operator received a writ of summons from the lawyers acting on behalf of the church, and that both parties have been engaged in discussions for several years over the issues involved.
Hong Kong International School Association “will defend our position vigorously to protect the interests of our students, parents, faculty and staff, and the broader international education community in Hong Kong,” Kim said in the statement.
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“We are extremely disappointed” that the church has “resorted to litigation to resolve the outstanding issues,” he said, adding that the operator will hold a town hall next week to provide further information.
The school’s website says it was founded by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in partnership with American business leaders.
HKIS has more than 3,000 students from reception one through to grade 12 in two campuses. The lower and upper primary schools are located in Repulse Bay on Hong Kong Island’s southside, while the secondary school is further along the coast in Tai Tam. The dispute is over the two primary schools.
Annual fees for HKIS’s primary schools range from HK$224,800 ($29,000) to HK$236,200, plus a HK$23,000 annual capital levy for all students. HKIS holds HK$1.1 billion in investment funds, according to its 2024 earnings statement.
The synod said HKIS should use its existing funds to reduce school fees and expand the student population to provide education to a wider section of Hong Kong.
It alleges that HKIS has been led since 2017 by an interim head of school who is not a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and not accountable to the church.
The church also alleged that there are no educators on the board of the school’s operator, with the majority coming from financial or legal backgrounds.
Hong Kong’s Education Bureau said in a statement that it is closely monitoring the case to ensure that the operation of the school and the interest of students will not be affected. It said it won’t comment further due to ongoing legal proceedings.
Many of Hong Kong’s top schools as well as private hospitals were set up by religious orders during the colonial period, such as Diocesan Boys’ School and Maryknoll Convent School. There are some 1.4 million Christians in the city of 7.5 million, according to the government.
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has set up a website to highlight the legal issues and promote the possible alternative school.
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The synod is a Christian charity founded 175 years ago, according to a document shared by the church. Globally, the church said it educates more than 175,000 students through international schools in Shanghai and Hanoi, Vietnam, and schools that are part of its US member congregations.
HKIS registered income from tuition fees of HK$664 million for the year ended July 2024.
