KOLOA, Kaua'i — The Kahili Adventist School has more acres than students on its sprawling campus at Kahili Mountain Park in wet central Kaua'i. The 197-acre campus is at the base of Kahili, the mountain from which it gets its name.

The small student body is one of its problems. The school's enrollment dropped after another private school, Island School, only six miles away, grew and added high school classes. Kahili Adventist principal Bud Moon said Kahili could handle twice the student body it now has.

The school, one of more than 5,000 operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, covers kindergarten through high school, and it is the oldest private high school on the island. Moon, who is in his third year at the school, said that despite its religious connection, students don't receive a "churchy education."

"Rather than teach doctrine, we invoke ethics and values in all our classes," Moon said.

There is no requirement that students belong to the sponsoring church and, in fact, only about a third of the students come from families that attend the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Moon said a couple of students are avowed atheists. However, the Bible is one of the nine core subject areas for elementary school pupils. The others: art, computers, mathematics, music, physical education, science and health, social studies and language arts — which includes reading, spelling, vocabulary, writing, handwriting and grammar.

The school operates on a year-round schedule like many public schools, with 180 days of instruction each year.

About 80 percent of graduates in recent years have gone on to college, Moon said.