Summary:
ZIP code 96740 on the Kona coast of Hawai'i Island is served by six schools covering grades PK through 12 and enrolling about 4,036 students, all reporting to the statewide Hawai'i Department of Education. Four are traditional public schools — Kealakehe High School (1,401 students), Kealakehe Elementary School (924), Kealakehe Intermediate School (677) and Kahakai Elementary School (507) — and together they enroll 87% of the area's students. Two charter schools, West Hawaii Explorations Academy (286, grades 6–12) and Innovations - PCS (241, K–8), serve the remaining 13%.
The academic bright spot is Innovations - PCS, the small K–8 charter, with the ZIP's highest ELA proficiency (69%) and math proficiency (53%), 4 stars and the 70th percentile among Hawai'i elementary schools. Kealakehe High School is the most improved school in the group, climbing to the 82nd percentile with 4 stars, the lowest chronic absenteeism here (19.0%) and the best graduation rate (82.0%); its math proficiency rose from 22% to 26% and Biology I from 29% to 44%. Kahakai Elementary also improved, lifting math from 38% to 48%, and is the only school in the ZIP where math proficiency exceeds ELA.
The concentrated challenge is Kealakehe Elementary School, ranked 199th of 203 Hawai'i elementary schools (2nd percentile, 0 stars), with the lowest scores in every subject (ELA 24%, math 15%, science 19%), the highest chronic absenteeism (43.0%) and 68.18% free/reduced lunch. Across the ZIP, math is the weak spot — every school except Kahakai scores well below its ELA results, and the gap reaches 38 points at the high school. Attendance and achievement track closely here, and despite lower recorded per-student spending and higher student-teacher ratios, the two charters outperform on paper. Families in the Kealakehe pipeline see a strong, improving high school feeding from an elementary school that needs the most support.
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