Summary:
ZIP code 96704 in Captain Cook on Hawaii Island has just two public schools, both elementary schools serving pre-kindergarten through grade 5: Honaunau Elementary School with 148 students and Hookena Elementary School with 98 students. Together they enroll 246 students, and both belong to the Hawaii Department of Education, the state's single school district. There are no public middle or high schools in this ZIP code, so families here must look outside the immediate area for secondary education.
The two schools are moving in different directions. Hookena improved in every tested subject: ELA rose from 46% to 54%, math from 46% to 51%, and science from 25% to 33%, while its statewide percentile climbed from the 21st to the 47th over two years. Honaunau is still slightly ahead in science (40% versus 33%) and holds the higher overall rank — 101 out of 203, or the 50th percentile — but its math fell from 57% to 50% and science dropped sharply from 56% to 40%. As a result, two schools that were far apart in 2024–2025 are now nearly even in ELA and math.
The biggest difference between them is attendance. Honaunau reports 24.0% chronic absenteeism, while Hookena reports 57.0% — a 33-percentage-point gap — even though Honaunau has much higher free/reduced lunch eligibility (93.24% versus 65.31%). Per-student spending was similar ($18,198 versus $19,003 in 2018–2019), and student-teacher ratios were close (13.4 versus 14.0). For parents, Hookena's rapid academic gains are encouraging, but its very high absenteeism is the clearest concern in the data.
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