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Kenai Peninsula Education Association President LaDawn Druce, left, and committee Chair Jason Tauriainen participate in the first meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Four Day School Week Ad Hoc Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

4-day school week committee adjourns

The committee will deliver recommendations to school board in July

Kachemak Bay Campus 2024 graduates prepare to enter commencement at the campus on May 8, 2024, in Homer, Alaska. (Emilie Springer/ Homer News)

News

Kachemak Bay Campus confers degrees to Class of 2024

The commencement was held Wednesday in Pioneer Hall in Homer

A graduate of Kenai Peninsula College gives a thumbs up as graduates proceed into the 54th Annual Kenai Peninsula College Commencement Ceremony at Kenai Central High School on Thursday. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

News

‘Never be afraid to be a new you’

KPC grads take step toward future in commencement ceremony

Kenai Peninsula Education Association President LaDawn Druce speaks in support of borough and school district budget collaboration during a borough assembly meeting on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Assembly sets school funding floor

The roughly $56.2 million amount is less than the $58.2 million requested last month but is more than…

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, speaks in support of debating an omnibus education bill in the Alaska House Chambers on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Ruffridge discusses allotment program for correspondence students at virtual town hall

The fate of the program is in limbo following a superior court ruling handed down last month

From front left, Connections Homeschool Principal Doug Hayman, Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche and KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland listen to families during a community conversation on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Senate committee hears correspondence school allotment bill

A superior court judge ruled earlier this month that the allotments are unconstitutional

Homer High School sophomore Sierra Mullikin is one of the students who participated in the community walk-in on Wednesday, April 24. Communities across the state of Alaska held walk-ins in support of legislative funding for public education. (Photo by Emilie Springer)

News

Teachers, staff and community members ‘walk-in’ at 9 district schools

The unions representing Kenai Peninsula Borough School District staff organized a widespread, “walk-in” protest at Kenai, Soldotna, Seward,…

LaDawn Druce asks Sen. Jesse Bjorkman a question during a town hall event on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

District unions call for ‘walk-in’ school funding protest

The unions have issued invitations to city councils, the borough assembly, the Board of Education and others

Students of Soldotna High School stage a walkout in protest of the veto of Senate Bill 140 in front of their school in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

News

SoHi students walk out for school funding

The protest was in response to the veto of an education bill that would have increased school funding

Kenai Peninsula Education Association President LaDawn Druce, left, and committee Chair Jason Tauriainen, right, participate in the first meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Four Day School Week Ad Hoc Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

4-day school week committee talks purpose of potential change, possible calendar

The change could help curb costs on things like substitutes, according to district estimates

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meets in Seward, Alaska, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (screenshot)

News

Borough awards contract for replacement of Seward High School track

The project is part of a bond package that funds major deferred maintenance projects at 10 borough schools

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion Kelley Cizek, right, speaks as Jason Tauriainen, Patti Truesdell and Penny Vadla listen during a special meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s school board in Soldotna on Monday.

News

‘They deserve better than this’

School board passes budget with broad swath of cuts, including pools, theaters and some support staff

School board member Patti Truesdell speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District School Board in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, April 1, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

News

School Board approves rehiring retired teachers

There are at least 25 full-time positions that will need to be filled for the next fiscal year

Homer High School students who joined schools from around the state in a high school walkout pose near the end of the event, on Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Homer, Alaska. Not all students who attended the event are in the image. (Photo by Emilie Springer/Homer News)

News

Homer students join statewide student walkout

The event was in response to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto last month of an education bill passed by…

Juneau students chant outside the governor’s office on the third floor of the Alaska State Capitol during a statewide protest Thursday morning calling for more public education funding. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Juneau students take statewide protest for more education funding into the Capitol

Scores of students march from JDHS to the offices of the governor and other lawmakers.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Clayton Holland responds to questions during a joint work session of the School Board and Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

News

District budgets for ‘worst-case scenario’, assumes no increase in state funding

‘This is all we can depend on’

Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion Attendees share their thoughts about a Dena’ina-focused charter school at a meeting hosted by the Kenaitze Indian Tribe on Thursday in Kenai.

News

Kenaitze Indian Tribe hosts meeting to gauge interest in a Dena’ina charter school

The initiative comes amid heightened legislative interest in Alaska’s charter school system

Alaska Department of Education and Early Development Commissioner Deena Bishop and Gov. Mike Dunleavy discuss his veto of an education bill during a press conference Friday, March 15, 2024, at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

State owes KPBSD $9.7 million, federal government says

DEED on Thursday pushed back on the federal government’s statement that it has not complied with requirements

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Finance Director Liz Hayes, left, presents preliminary fiscal year 2025 budge information during a school board committee meeting on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

School district committee builds multiple budget scenarios amid uncertain state funding

‘We don’t get to play around on this one’

Rep. Ben Carpenter, a Nikiski Republican, speaks in opposition to overriding a veto of Senate Bill 140 during floor debate of a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature on Monday, March 18, 2024. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Opinion

Rep. Ben Carpenter: Education is too important to keep getting wrong

Capitol Corner: Legislators report back from Juneau