The equivalent of an entire elementary school worth of students is missing from the Kenai Borough School District’s fall enrollment data.
According to a new report, the district has 230 fewer students than projected. Most of the decline comes from traditional public schools like Soldotna Elementary (-59), Soldotna High (-48), Chapman (-39), Skyview Middle (-37), Kenai Central High (-33) Nikiski Middle (-28). One charter school, Kaleidoscope, had 34 fewer students than projected.
The data comes from a report prepared for the Kenai School Board for its Oct. 5 meeting. It shows that 27 of 40 schools have fewer students than expected this year.
The main bright spot is the district’s homeschool Connections Program, which is 87 students above projection for a total enrollment of 1,222. Similarly, Aurora Borealis Charter is 27 students over projection.
Additionally, the retooled Nikolaevsk Charter School, which provides unique educational options for residents of a traditional Russian Old Believer community outside of Homer, has reported 81 students in the launch of its new K-12 charter. While that’s slightly below the 94 initially projected for this year, it represents a net increase for the district, which shut down the school in 2025 when it had just 21 students.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
As reported earlier this year by the Alaska Watchman, the Kenai School District is experiencing the effects of a profound shift impacting government-run education across Alaska. Students are leaving, budgets are shrinking and the old model is rapidly losing public support.
Plummeting birth rates, coupled with the rising popularity of homeschooling and private or religious education, have resulted in school districts around the state being forced to shutter campuses, cut teacher positions and rethink how publicly funded education is delivered.
Last year, a Kenai School District report showed student enrollment had fallen by 744 students over the past 12 years – from 8,974 to just 8,230. The latest report reveals that the district is now down to 7,909 students. That’s a loss of nearly 2,500 students from the high of 10,384 in 1998.
Apart from Kaleidoscope Charter, the losses are largely coming from traditional brick-and-mortar neighborhood schools.
Proposed political solutions to profound changes in government-funded education often involve teacher unions and education bureaucrats calling on state legislators to increase per-student funding to offset the fact that far fewer children are enrolled in public schools. On the other hand, many conservatives have pushed for the state to encourage and enable greater school choice options, while embracing the increasing popularity of homeschooling, charter schools and private education.
