HONOLULU (KHON2) — The state Department of Education is changing course on how to handle Hawaiʻi’s shrinking student population.
Instead of moving quickly to close or merge campuses, officials say the focus will be on “district optimization” — re-visiting attendance boundaries and looking at enrollment before considering consolidations.
Public school enrollment has dropped by more than 20,000 students in the past decade, now sitting at just over 152,000 for the 2025–26 school year. Numbers once peaked above 170,000 in 2014 but have steadily declined as birth rates fell and families moved out of state.
That trend has created uneven impacts across the islands.
Rural areas like Lānaʻi, Molokaʻi, Hāna, and West Maui could see student numbers decline by as much as 25%. At the same time, communities in ʻEwa and Kapolei are dealing with overcrowded classrooms fueled by new developments.
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Assistant Superintendent Elizabeth Higashi said DOE officials have been working closely with all 15 complex area principals and community leaders.
“People within the community have very strong connections to their school,” Higashi said. “That’s why we’re adjusting our approach — giving more time for discussion, and allowing schools to tell their stories before any consolidation moves forward.”
Stakeholders asked the department to treat any school closure as a last resort, and they suggested alternatives like reconfiguration or redistricting instead.
The DOE’s new timeline calls for redistricting changes to take effect in the 2026–27 school year, with potential consolidation studies beginning in 2027.
Any merged schools would not transition until at least 2028.