Four lawmakers attended a Kenai Peninsula Borough School District meeting on Jan. 12 to meet with school board staff ahead of the legislative session. Representative Bill Elam, R-Nikiski, Senator Jesse Bjorkman, R-Soldotna, Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna and Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak discussed funding, Senate Bill 113, testing standards and more. Staff at KPBSD identified three […]
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The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District has implemented school closures for every school in the district on Friday, Jan. 16 due to rain and freezing temperatures expected overnight. All Kenai Peninsula College campuses will be closed as well, and campus events are canceled. The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for the Kenai […]
Read MoreThe Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is projected a $7.5 million budget deficit during the 2027 fiscal year, which begins in October 2026. The district’s finance director said during a KPBSD finance committee meeting on Dec. 1 that a projected decrease in student enrollment combined with a rise in the taxable value of borough property […]
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An initial application for the proposed Nikolaevsk charter school narrowly passed before the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education during a special meeting on Monday. Approval of the charter school application required a majority vote of the board, with a minimum of five votes in favor. A motion to approve the application passed […]
Read MoreDuring a meeting last Monday, Nov. 3, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education approved an increase to school meal prices, citing rising food and labor costs and reduced commodity support. The increase will go into effect in January for the remainder of the 2025-2026 school year. The meal prices haven’t increased since […]
Read MoreKenai Central High School students have been hard at work preparing for the opening night of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on Friday, Nov. 14. Travis Lawson, KCHS science teacher and director of the drama department, said approximately 20 students have been rehearsing multiple times per week since September. The play, written by Shakespeare at the […]
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Members of an academic policy committee for a proposed Nikolaevsk Charter School presented an initial application to the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education last week for consideration of the school’s establishment. The application comes after the board’s vote to close Nikolaevsk School, which took effect June 30, due to low student enrollment […]
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Three board members were sworn in to the Kenai Peninsula Board School District Board of Education during a special meeting on Monday, Oct. 20. Patti Truesdell was reelected to her District 1 seat in the Oct. 7 municipal election. Mica VanBuskirk and Ash-Lee Waddell were newly elected to the District 6 and District 9 seats, […]
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Preliminary results from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education election reveal a new composition of board members. Following certification of the official results, newly elected representatives will serve a three-year term on the board. In District 1, representing Kalifornsky, incumbent Patti Truesdell sought a third term serving the school district. Unofficial results […]
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Homer polling locations reported steady traffic on Election Day, Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 7, as voters turned up to cast their ballots in the Kenai Peninsula Borough and City of Homer elections. Three Homer City Council seats — two three-year term seats and one one-year term — are in contention in the city election. For the […]
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Both the Homer girls and boys cross-country teams were named the 2025 Division II State Champions on Saturday, Oct. 4. The meet was hosted by Palmer High School on the Michael Janacek Running Trail. Homer placed first in the Division II girls team race with 41 points. Seward took second place with 54 points, while […]
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Many large questions loom over the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District as it grapples with ongoing funding issues, student retention, and sustainability. Last Thursday, District 9 candidates Ash-Lee Waddell and Gayle Claus took on some of those questions in an election forum hosted by the Peninsula Clarion and KBBI AM 890 at the Homer Public […]
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Patti Truesdell, incumbent for the Kalifornsky seat on the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education, as well as challengers Donna Anderson and Shelby Oden, discussed school funding, curriculum and communications at a forum moderated by the Clarion and KDLL 91.9 FM at the Soldotna Public Library on Monday. Truesdell, who has held her […]
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The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education on Monday unanimously voted to add nearly $2 million in spending to its budget for the current fiscal year in response to the increase in funding received from the state this year. Some of the changes described in a direction from the board to KPBSD administration […]
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Phase one of an ongoing project to upgrade student pick-up/drop-off and parking at Chapman School in Anchor Point was completed and implemented this week. The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly approved the purchase of more than 6 acres of land adjacent to the existing Chapman School campus last November in order to address increased growth and […]
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Kenai Peninsula Borough School District administration and IT staff last week showcased the way local schools have benefited from the federal E-Rate program, which provides funding for expansion and development of network infrastructure, in a meeting in Soldotna with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Commissioner Olivia Trusty of the Federal Communications Commission. While the visiting […]
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The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly earlier this month unanimously adopted a resolution asking the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District to fund pools in Ninilchik and Seldovia this year. The pools in Ninilchik and Seldovia were slated to be closed in all of the district’s draft budgets for this year, and the district’s finalized budget does […]
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At the front entrance of Nikiski North Star Elementary on Wednesday, music was playing, bubble machines were filling the air with soapy spheres, and Nikiski Fire Service Area staff were directing traffic and greeting students on the first day of school. Similar, though perhaps not as exuberant, scenes were playing out across the Kenai Peninsula […]
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There are three seats up for election on the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education, each for a three-year term. District 1, representing Kalifornsky, is currently held by Patti Truesdell, who was elected to the board in 2019. She’s challenged by Donna Anderson and Shelby Oden. Running for her third term, Truesdell has […]
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The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during its Aug. 4 meeting separately reversed some cuts to activity stipends paid to coaches in the coming year and increased fees for activities. As part of a suite of steep budget reductions that slashed staff and programming this year, the district’s final budget adopted in […]
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A new design to combine Soldotna Elementary School and Redoubt Elementary School into the vacant Soldotna Prep School at a projected cost of $35 million was approved by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education by an 8-1 vote Monday. A set of educational specifications — documents that define a full design for […]
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After a successful vote of the Alaska Legislature reversed Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of $50 million education funding on Saturday, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education said it’ll need some time to understand what an increase of $3 million means locally. The Legislature in May passed an education bill that, among other […]
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Less than a month after wrapping up conversations about school closures for the current school year, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District began talks during a Monday work session about which schools might be closed next year. This year, the district closed Nikolaevsk School and very nearly closed Sterling Elementary School. Those decisions came toward […]
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The U.S. Department of Education will release federal education funding frozen by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced Friday. Nationwide, around $6.8 billion in funding for migrant education and other grants was held up a day before it was supposed to be released on July 1, according to reporting […]
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The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s finance department earned two “prestigious national awards,” the district announced Monday. According to a district release, the finance department earned a meritorious budget award and a certificate of excellence in financial reporting from the Association of School Business Officials International for the fiscal year that ended in June. The […]
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A budget finalized Monday by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District describes deep cuts to classrooms, activities, programs and district office to meet a steep deficit driven by declining state funding. The budget adopted for the coming year by the district’s board of education, on a 8-1 margin with member Penny Vadla opposed, had no […]
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The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education on Monday will finalize its budget for the fiscal year that already started this week. A new budget was designed by the board’s finance committee last week, after months of waiting for the state and borough governments to finalize school funding. The committee reversed multiple major […]
Read MoreSterling Elementary School is no longer set to close this year, though the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education warned Thursday that more schools — potentially including Sterling — will close next year. The closure of Sterling Elementary was added to the district’s preliminary budget on April 22 — a reduction in cost […]
Read MorePlanned cuts to pool managers were reversed in the draft budget advanced Thursday by the finance committee of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education, though the committee said they need to see a solution next year that takes the pools out from district management. As the district grapples with a $17 million […]
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After the final performance of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by the Seward High School Theatre Collective, director Meegan Miller announced to a sold-out auditorium that the group’s next show in fall of this year would be directed by student Evie Bukac. Miller made that “promise,” amid a backdrop of what she called “giant” proposed […]
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Citing declining oil revenue, Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Thursday issued a veto in the state budget to reduce school funding below the amount specified by law, cutting the amount of funding the state provides to school districts per student by $200. That number, the base student allocation, was increased by $700 in an education bill […]
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