No matter how long overdue a raise for Kamehameha Schools trustees may be, there is such a thing as bad timing.

And this would be it.

The Probate Court master is recommending a 69 percent pay boost — just after the

estate's fund took a hit of

$1.7 billion.

Certainly, investment-fed endowments of all kinds suffered similar blows from the Wall Street meltdown. But still: bad timing.

All this at a time when the nation is suffering from staggering job losses and a recession unlike anything since the Great Depression. Layoffs and business closures have folks on edge, a fact underscored by low consumer confidence and spending.

Now is hardly the time for well-paid managers of an educational trust to be considering such an unprecedented pay hike.

Consider the numbers:

• Maximum pay for most board members would rise from $97,500 a year to $165,000, according to the recommendation of court master David Fairbanks.

The original proposal by a compensation panel had been $187,000, but the economy led Fairbanks to cut $22,000.

Surely, the trust's beneficiaries won't think the cutback is enough of a reality check.

• Similarly, the top scale for the board chair would be boosted from $120,000 to $217,000 annually.

This would be the first increase in about 10 years for the five board members. But that reduction corrected the excessive compensation packages of the 1990s. Much of the trustees' managerial work was transferred to a new chief executive officer and staff.

Fairbanks cited a study showing trustees spending more than twice as much time on trust matters as the boards of comparable nonprofits. Perhaps the workload should be re-evaluated again.

But approving the raises at this level simply sends the wrong message about the priorities of an estate that should focus on shepherding its educational mission through the tough economic times ahead.