Bill Hill ran Bristol Bay schools right into the ground; Naknek proficiency dropped to 5%

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Sept. 28, 2026 – Bill Hill spent a decade as superintendent of the Bristol Bay Borough School District. In his final school year, the district reported average spending of $54,103 per student. The state also placed Naknek Elementary in its lowest-performing 5% of Title I schools.

Those figures put Hill’s education record in focus as he runs for Alaska’s seat in Congress.

The chart accompanying this article shows that, by 2022–23, roughly one in ten tested students districtwide met the standard in reading and fewer than one in ten did so in math. The underlying state report for Bristol Bay Middle/High School gives a sense of how few students those percentages represent:

• Three of 24 tested students were proficient in English language arts
• Two of 24 were proficient in math.

Naknek Elementary’s state designation is another measure of the problem. Alaska classified the school as needing comprehensive support because its accountability score placed it among the lowest 5% of Title I schools. The school had 69 students enrolled that October.

Hill became Bristol Bay Borough’s superintendent in 2013 and left at the end of the 2022–23 school year. His long tenure makes the results something he can’t dodge. After 10 years in charge, the district’s academic outcomes are not just part of his record; they are his record.

The spending figure comes from Alaska’s 2022–23 report card, which lists $48,515 in state and local funds and $5,588 in federal funds per pupil as the district average.

The Alaska Story has previously examined Bill Hill’s transgender-student regulation. While students could not read or do math, boys could use girls’ bathrooms, locker room, and compete on their teams with them.

Bill Hill’s pension and health care plan are worth millions.

Bill Hill’s transgender policy allowed Bristol Bay boys to use girls’ bathrooms, play on their teams