Lahaina Intermediate School

Lahaina Intermediate School is a public middle school serving grades 6–8 with 449 students at 871 Lahainaluna Rd in Lahaina, on the west side of Maui, and it is part of the Hawaii Department of Education. In 2025–2026 it ranked 67th of 85 Hawaii middle schools — the 21st percentile, with a 1-star rating — and test proficiency stood at 34% in English language arts, 19% in math, and 24% in science. The longer trend is the bigger story: the school has slipped from the 42nd percentile (2 stars) in 2020–2021 to the 21st percentile (1 star) in 2025–2026, dropping to 1 star in 2023–2024.

Compared with three other Maui middle schools in the same district, Maui Waena Intermediate School, Iao Intermediate School, and Lokelani Intermediate School, Lahaina ranks last and scores lowest in every tested subject. Maui Waena (4 stars, 69th percentile) posts 52% in ELA, 34% in math, and 49% in science — gaps of 18, 15, and 25 points. Chronic absenteeism is mid-pack at 30.0% in 2024–2025, better than Iao's 37.0% and improved 4.5 points from the prior year. Poverty indicators are the highest in the group: 62.14% of students qualified for free/reduced lunch in 2024–2025, up from 50.85% in 2022–2023.

There are real assets here. At 10.9:1, the student-to-teacher ratio is the smallest of the four schools and has improved from 14.3 two years earlier, and per-student spending of $15,891 (2018–2019) is comparable to peers. Science is the only subject that improved year over year, from 18% to 24%. But math proficiency has never exceeded 23% across four years, and special education students fell to the 3rd percentile (0 stars), ranking 61st of 63 schools with reported data; English learners were at the 10th percentile in 2024–2025.