Peter is Native Hawaiian and grew up on his family kuleana land in Punalu‘u on the windward side of Oahu. He is the eldest of 7 children, is married to Maui native, Lynn Puanani Costa Miyahira, and they are the proud parents of 6 children (4 daughters and 2 sons). They also have 12 grandchildren (9 grandsons and 3 granddaughters). He currently resides on Waiohuli Hawaiian Homestead in Kula, Maui, and enjoys working in the garden, where they have planted vegetables and fruit trees in an effort to be more self-sustainable, including traditional Hawaiian crops such as kalo, sweet potato, coconut, banana, guava, kukui nut, and herbal medicines.

Peter is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools, and went on to pursue his undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University Hawaii, and graduate degrees at BYU in Provo, Utah, in Educational Psychology (MEd) and Law (JD), and his PhD in First Nations/Indigenous Peoples Education from the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His dissertation title was: Restoring the Sacred Circle - Education for Culturally Responsive Native Families that described culturally resilient factors that Indigenous families could incorporate in creating enriched learning environments at home.

He has been involved with Native Hawaiian and Indigenous education for several decades, and currently serves as a Commissioner on the Hawaii State Charter School Commission. He has also been a member of the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC) that promotes Indigenous control of Indigenous education, and has been active in WINHEC accreditation visits to affirm the cultural integrity of Indigenous institutions and programs around the world. He is presently helping to establish the World Indigenous Nations University (WINU) Hawaii Pasifika Region to provide access to Indigenous higher education opportunities to island nations and communities in the Pacific.