Basin schools count 243 students this year

Big Horn County School District No. 4 opens the school year with 243 students, 10 less than last year.  While numbers are not down significantly, Laura Irwin Elementary principal Katie Seeley and Riverside Midde High School principal Matt Jensen both noted that enrollment mirrors other small rural school districts in the state, where populations growth of young families is dependent largely on job opportunities. This has resulted in overall lower enrollment numbers. 

Jensen noted that RMHS regularly sees some fluctuation from semester to semester in its enrollment due to students from the Big Horn Basin group home. The Wyoming Legislature’s Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act, which would make some homeschool students eligible for $7,000 in funds for education, appears not to have a large impact in Basin this year. 

“I think like any school, you’d like to have a few more kids in every class,” Jensen said. However, with stable enrollment and classes maintaining numbers in the high teens and low 20s, Basin is on-par with what it should be. 

Laura Irwin Elementary will begin with 107 students. Seeley noted that preschool, with enrollment at 13, is not down significantly, with some families electing to join Children’s Resource Center or moving out of town. Kindergarten has 16; first grade 18; second grade 17; third grade 11; fourth grade 14; and fifth grade 18. 

RMS has 64 students: sixth grade 22, seventh grade 24 and eighth grade 19. 

The high school has 72 enrolled, including 18 freshmen, 20 sophomores, 12 juniors and 21 seniors.