Oglala Lakota County
A High School That Didn't Exist Built Pine Ridge's 49% Enrollment Surge
In a state where most districts are shrinking, one school district on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation grew by 564 students between 2007 and 2025, a 49.4% increase. The Oglala Lakota County School Di...
14,000 Native Students, 17 Years of Standing Still
South Dakota enrolled 14,477 Native American students in 2008. In 2025, the number was 14,283. That is 194 fewer students over 17 years, a decline of 1.3%.
South Dakota Schools Lost 13 Points of White Share in 17 Years
In the 2007-08 school year, roughly 82 of every 100 students in South Dakota's public schools were white. By 2024-25, that figure had fallen to 69. The 13.2 percentage-point drop did not happen becaus...
South Dakota's Hidden Pre-K System Serves 3,284 Children With Zero State Dollars
In 2006, South Dakota reported 1,280 pre-kindergarten students across 110 school districts. By 2025, that number had climbed to 3,284, a 156.6% increase that makes PK one of the fastest-growing segmen...