The district has one of the highest efficiencies in Western Alaska.
[1] Though public schools have existed in Nome since 1902, the present-day school district exists mostly to fulfill the obligation that first-class cities in the Unorganized Borough have under state law to provide education and planning/zoning functions within their cities.
As such, it is separate from the Bering Strait School District which serves the smaller communities of the surrounding area.
The school program located in Nome Youth Facility was closed on July 14, 2019 and no longer serves the community as an educational institution.
[2] The district's lineage extends to the establishment of the City of Nome in 1901.