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South Dakota Has 1.10 Kindergartners for Every Senior
South Dakota's 12th grade class just set a record. At 9,964 students, the class of 2025 is the largest in the state's data history, 14.5% bigger than the 8,703 seniors in 2008-09. In any other context...
Two-Thirds of South Dakota Districts Enroll Fewer Than 500 Students
Elk Mountain School District educates 20 students across 14 grade levels. Six of those grades have zero enrollment. At the other end of the state, Sioux Falls enrolls 24,841. The ratio between the two...
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...
Harrisburg Has Never Lost a Student. Now What?
Correction (March 15, 2026): An earlier version of this article stated that Brandon Valley grew 69.5% since 2007. The correct figure is 72.5%. The error has been corrected.
24 South Dakota Districts Hit Record Lows
Rapid City Area Schools, the second-largest district in South Dakota, enrolled 12,040 students in 2024-25. That is the lowest figure in the district's recorded history, down 13.9% from its 2012 peak o...
South Dakota Gained Students During COVID. Now the Bill Is Coming Due.
Most states lost students during the pandemic. South Dakota added them.
South Dakota's 13-Year Growth Streak Is Over
Correction (March 15, 2026): An earlier version of this article stated Sioux Falls had shed 283 students since its 2023 peak of 25,228; the 283 figure was actually the loss since 2022, not the 2023 pe...