Kenai Peninsula Borough School District — Facilities

Over roughly a year, Kenai Peninsula Borough School District moved decisively toward shrinking its footprint, driven by declining enrollment and buildings far larger than the student bodies they hold. The earliest development came with Nikolaevsk School: the state approved its permanent closure in August 2025, and in November the board voted 5-3 to approve a community group's charter school application to replace it, going against district administration's recommendation over fiscal sustainability, facility and lease questions, and staffing concerns.

Two further consolidation ideas surfaced in early 2026 but did not stick. In February, McNeil Canyon Elementary's site council learned that a board member and three administrators had urged adding the school to the closure or consolidation list; the council mobilized in opposition, and McNeil Canyon was ultimately left off the final list. Around the same time, the district considered folding Fireweed Academy onto the Paul Banks Elementary campus, a prospect that worried Paul Banks families; by March the district put an end to that consolidation, and Fireweed confirmed it will stay at its current site for 2026-27 while pursuing its own long-term Borough land lease.

The most consequential action came on April 6, 2026, when the board voted to permanently close four schools — River City Academy, Seward Middle School, Sterling Elementary School, and Tustumena Elementary School — effective June 30, 2026. Each school had been flagged as too small to run efficiently, with Seward Middle at 106 students in a building built for 227, Sterling at 110 in a building built for 270, and Tustumena at 116 in a building built for 400. All four closures passed by contested roll-call votes (7-2, 8-1, 7-2, and 7-2) after public testimony that was almost entirely opposed. In July, the board formally declared the Tustumena, Sterling, and Seward Middle buildings surplus and directed the superintendent to transfer them to the borough, cementing this round of closures.