Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, AK

Original Research by School Decision on Kenai Peninsula Borough School District

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District spreads across one of the most varied geographies of any district in Alaska, serving families from Homer at the southern tip of the peninsula to Nikiski in the north, with small remote communities like Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Tebughna reachable only by air or water. The district operates more than forty schools, and the range of settings within it is wide. Soldotna and Kenai carry the largest enrollments and the most conventional secondary programs, with Kenai Central, Soldotna High, and Nikiski Middle/Senior High anchoring the central part of the peninsula. Homer High serves the southern end. Seward High covers the eastern coast. Between and beyond those hubs sit tiny community schools in places like Cooper Landing, Moose Pass, and Hope, where a single building may serve a handful of children across many grade levels.

The district also runs several schools of choice. Aurora Borealis Charter School, Fireweed Academy, Soldotna Montessori Charter School, Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science, and River City Academy give families options that differ in pedagogy from the standard neighborhood school. Kenai Alternative High School and Homer Flex School serve students whose path through high school does not fit the traditional mold. A program called Connections appears to support homeschooling or distance learning, though the data does not describe its structure in detail. This breadth of options is a real strength for a district covering this much territory, giving families in the more populated corridors a meaningful set of choices while maintaining small community schools in remote villages.

On the most recent state assessments, math proficiency landed in a middling band, with science slightly above that and English language arts slightly below. Participation rates sat in the mid-eighties across all three subjects. These are not standout numbers, and the English language arts result is the softest of the three. A parent considering this district may want to look into how individual schools perform relative to the district average, since results across more than forty schools in communities this varied are likely to range widely. The data available here is district-level only, so it does not show which schools are pulling the averages up or down. No multi-year trend data was available, so there is no way to characterize whether performance is improving, declining, or holding steady.

The student body is predominantly white, with an Alaska Native and American Indian population that is a meaningful presence, particularly given the remote village schools in Native communities like Nanwalek and Port Graham. A substantial share of students identify as two or more races. Data on free and reduced-price lunch eligibility was not reported, and neither were rates for special education enrollment or English learners. Those gaps make it harder to gauge the economic and support needs the district is addressing.

Housing across the district varies enormously by community. Weighted across the ZIP codes the district touches, home values sit below both the Alaska state benchmark and the national benchmark, which gives the area a relative affordability advantage. But the range is striking. Communities like Cooper Landing and Homer carry substantially higher home values, while Ninilchik sits at the low end and has actually seen values decline year over year. Seward and Homer have seen some of the strongest appreciation recently. Rent data is thin, drawn from only two communities, so it offers only a partial picture. The estimated monthly mortgage runs higher than typical rent, suggesting that renting may be the more accessible entry point for families relocating to the area.

The district brief search turned up no parent-relevant changes or recent initiatives with lasting impact. No strategic priorities, bond measures, or program restructurings surfaced in the research. This means the narrative here is built from what the district reports on its assessments, its enrollment, its housing market, and its school list. No graduation rate was available. No data on course access, staffing ratios, discipline, attendance, or civil-rights indicators was provided. A family looking into this district would benefit from asking the district directly about graduation outcomes, advanced course offerings at each high school, and support services for Alaska Native students and English learners, since those pieces are absent from the available data.

What this district offers is scale, geographic reach, and a genuinely diverse set of school environments, from mainstream high schools in the central corridor to village schools on the outer coast, alongside charter and alternative options. The academic results are moderate, the housing market is generally affordable relative to the state, and the choice of school setting is a defining feature.

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District Context

Officially reported figures, 2024-25.

Enrollment

8,499

Grades

PK–12

Schools

Student body

Hispanic 6%

Black 1%

White 71%

Asian 1%

Two+ 15%

Am. Indian / AK Native 7%

Hawaiian / Pac. Isl. 0%

By economic status

Percent proficient by grade, as reported

Economically disadvantaged

Not disadvantaged

ELA

Gr 3

28%

40%

Gr 4

24%

42%

Gr 5

31%

49%

Gr 6

34%

53%

Gr 7

28%

39%

Gr 8

26%

43%

Gr 38

28%

44%

Math

Gr 3

34%

50%

Gr 4

27%

49%

Gr 5

34%

51%

Gr 6

33%

49%

Gr 7

29%

44%

Gr 8

28%

53%

Gr 38

31%

49%

Science

Gr 5

36%

60%

Gr 8

28%

45%

Gr 38

32%

52%

Schools in this District

42 schools are officially reported under this district.

Kenai Alternative High School

Homer Flex School

Chapman School

Tebughna School

Cooper Landing School

Paul Banks Elementary

William H. Seward Elementary School

Soldotna Elementary

Sterling Elementary

Susan B English School

Tustumena Elementary

Aurora Borealis Charter School

Fireweed Academy

West Homer Elementary

Connections

Redoubt Elementary

Seward Middle School

Soldotna Montessori Charter School

Kaleidoscope School of Arts & Science

McNeil Canyon Elementary

Marathon School

Razdolna School

Kenai Central High School

Kenai Middle School

Kalifornsky Beach Elementary

Seward High School

Skyview Middle School

Soldotna High School

Homer Middle School

Mt. View Elementary

Nikiski North Star Elementary

Voznesenka School

Nikiski Middle/Senior High School

Kachemak Selo School

River City Academy

Academic Performance

Percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards, by grade.

Mathematics

1 grade reported

41%

Grades 3-8

English Language Arts

1 grade reported

37%

Grades 3-8

Science

1 grade reported

43%

Grades 3-8

Housing & Real Estate

Data as of April 2026 | District-weighted from constituent ZIP codes

Home Values

Typical home value$334,162

Year-over-year change+7.9%

Range across 13 ZIP codes$204K to $470K

vs. state typical0.86x

vs. national typical0.91x

Home value trend (12 months)

ZIP code home values (13 ZIP codes)

ZIP	City	Value	YoY	Weight
99664	Seward	$389K	+14.0%	17.1%
99603	Homer	$402K	+12.2%	9.4%
99568	Clam Gulch	$260K	+3.4%	7.1%
99611	Kenai	$321K	+5.4%	5.0%
99631	Moose Pass	$273K	+0.1%	4.1%
99639	Ninilchik	$204K	-2.1%	3.4%
99669	Soldotna	$363K	+6.7%	2.3%
99605	Hope	$235K	+4.1%	2.1%
99556	Anchor Point	$249K	+2.7%	1.9%
99663	Seldovia	$264K	+0.9%	1.1%
99610	Kasilof	$288K	+6.7%	0.8%
99572	Cooper Landing	$470K	+1.6%	0.8%
99672	Soldotna	$346K	+6.5%	0.6%

Rental Market

Typical monthly rent$1,477/mo

Range across 2 ZIP codes$1,450 to $1,588/mo

ZIP code rents (2 ZIP codes)

ZIP	City	Rent/mo	YoY	Weight
99603	Homer	$1,450	—	9.4%
99669	Soldotna	$1,588	—	2.3%

Affordability

Est. monthly mortgage (20% down at 6.48%)$1,686/mo

Home price / national median income4.0x

Annual rent / national median income21.2%

Est. mortgage exceeds rent by$209/mo

Comparison

State typical home value$390,107 (+4.9% YoY)

National typical home value$368,198 (+0.6% YoY)

State ZHVI trend (12 months)

National ZHVI trend (12 months)

Economic Context

30-year fixed mortgage rate6.48%

National unemployment rate4.3%

National median household income$83,730

CPI: Rent of shelter (index)447.05

30-year fixed mortgage rate (12 months)

National unemployment rate (12 months)

National median household income (12 months)

CPI: Rent of shelter (index) (12 months)

Sources: Zillow Home Value Index and Zillow Observed Rent Index (Zillow Group), Realtor.com via Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)

Data Currently Unavailable

Civil Rights Data (CRDC)

This profile is derived exclusively from publicly available federal and state datasets. It may not reflect the most current information available. We encourage parents and families to supplement this data with information published directly on the school’s website, which may include more recent figures, additional programs, or updated enrollment data.