Flathead County School Enrollment Dips for Third Consecutive Year
While a handful of districts saw growth, most public and private schools in the valley saw slight declines in enrollment between 2024 and 2025
By Mariah Thomas
For the third year in a row, Flathead County’s public school districts saw an enrollment drop. Private schools, too, saw a decline in enrollment figures this year.
Overall, enrollment dropped by 2% across the valley, to the tune of 333 fewer students enrolled in county schools than in 2024.
Enrollment figures matter for Montana’s public schools, which receive funds from the state based on “average number belonging,” or ANB. ANB refers to a per-student entitlement districts receive. The more students, the more funding; and the inverse also rings true.
From fall 2024 to fall 2025, public elementary schools in the valley experienced an overall decrease of 157 students, a 2% change.
Swan River had the largest decline in its student population by percentage change. The small, rural district saw an 11% drop, from 159 students in 2024 to 142 in 2025.
Five of the valley’s 19 elementary districts saw increases in their enrollment this year. Deer Park, Olney-Bissell and Helena Flats each had 1% bumps. Cayuse Prairie and Kila had larger enrollment changes, increasing their respective student populations by 5% and 8%.
Charlie Wiest, Deer Park’s superintendent, said Deer Park has long maintained steady enrollment. He pointed to the school’s reputation and staff as reasons for that. The school district — the valley’s oldest one — unsuccessfully attempted to pass a bond in May, which would have paid for needed repairs and updates to old buildings. Olney-Bissell Superintendent Trevor Dahlman echoed Wiest’s sentiment about maintaining steady enrollment figures over the years as well. In the small rural districts, a difference of one or two additional students can have an impact on their figures.
Cayuse Prairie Superintendent Amy Piazzola told the Beacon last week the school’s enrollment has steadily climbed for the better part of the past decade. The district is finalizing plans to put a levy on the ballot for the spring, aimed at providing the funding it needs to maintain current levels of programming and staffing amid the growth it’s experienced.
Kila, too, went to taxpayers in 2024 to ask for more space. The district has outgrown its current building thanks to rising enrollment. However, the bond attempt was defeated by a large margin. Superintendent Liz English, who began in her role heading up the small, rural district earlier this year, told the Beacon in August that facility challenges persist and she hoped to engage in long-range planning efforts during her tenure leading the district.
Public high schools across the valley experienced a 44-student, or 1%, enrollment decline in all. Bigfork, Columbia Falls and Kalispell each saw drops in their numbers of students. Whitefish was the sole outlier at the high school level. It experienced 6% growth with 40 more students in the high school district in 2025 than in 2024.
This year, the school enrolled 669 students, compared to 482 in 2016. Over the past decade, that marks a 39% increase in enrollment at the high school.
The Whitefish School District passed a high school expansion bond and a bond to expand its athletic complex in 2024. In the district’s pitch for the bond, it pointed toward unprecedented growth in its student population. Superintendent Dave Means wrote in an email to the Beacon that Whitefish Schools’ consistent enrollment growth over the previous decade was the reason the district pursued the bond.
“These improvements will help us add classrooms, career and technical educational areas and athletic improvements,” Means wrote. “Construction on new academic and athletic spaces will begin this spring with an anticipated start date of March 23. We are so thankful for our supportive community that is committed to providing facilities that support the learning, growth and success of our students.”
Private and homeschooled elementary figures saw a more noticeable decline, dropping by 6%, or 124 students over that time frame. Private and homeschool high school student figures dropped by only an 8-student margin.
As schools grapple with the declining enrollment figures, inflation has increased the price of educating students.
The question of school funding is top-of-mind this year as the School Funding Interim Commission presses forward with Montana’s decennial study process. That process marks a once-a-decade opportunity to recommend actions to the legislature to improve the state’s school funding formula. While stakeholders’ opinions differ on exact methods to change the formula, there is consensus that it needs work.
“School funding is a challenge for every district,” Dahlman, the superintendent at Olney-Bissell, said. “We’re all nickel-and-diming every single penny in our budget to make it work. Teacher salaries, even though we increased them this year, are still nowhere where they need to be.”
At least one school district — Missoula County Public Schools — has voted to pursue legal action against the state as the decennial study process plays out. The brewing legal filing centers on the state’s constitutional mandate to offer “a basic system of free quality public elementary and secondary schools” funded “in an equitable manner.”