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Mountain Home Public Schools closed the 2025-26 school year with 3,635 students, down 117 from a year earlier and the latest step in a steady four-year enrollment decline, according to the report presented to the school board May 21.
The district’s year-end count has fallen each year since 2021-22, when it stood at 3,855. It dropped to 3,817 the next year, then 3,804, then 3,752 a year ago and 3,635 this spring, a loss of 220 students over four years.
The district graduated 308 seniors this year, officials said, though some were early graduates who had already stopped attending and did not appear on the final enrollment count.
Kindergarten has driven much of the decline. The district enrolled 220 kindergartners this year, down from 247 a year earlier and 291 in 2023-24. Officials told the board that 211 students had enrolled for kindergarten so far for the coming year, roughly even with where the current class landed, and said they hoped to reach at least 240 by fall.
The district reported two student transfers into the district.
Withdrawals were heaviest at the start of the year and again in January. The district recorded 229 withdrawals in August and 70 in January, the two largest monthly totals, compared with 15 to 46 in most other months.
Moves to other schools accounted for most of the departures. Among the reasons recorded over the year, transfers to other Arkansas schools and out-of-state moves were the most common drop codes by a wide margin, followed by home schooling. The January spike included a large number of early graduates.
The report also detailed the district’s special populations. Mountain Home counted 598 students with individualized education programs, 383 on Section 504 plans and 368 receiving active dyslexia intervention. The district reported 219 gifted and talented students, 176 attending under school choice, 133 identified as homeless, 127 legal transfers, 57 English language learners and 14 in foster care.
Enrollment was spread across the district’s buildings, with the kindergarten center at 220, Nelson-Wilks-Herron at 521, Hackler at 844, Pinkston Middle School at 565, the junior high at 273 and the high school at 1,158. The Guy Berry alternative program enrolled 54.
Student-to-teacher ratios at the elementary level ranged from 17-to-1 in kindergarten to 25-to-1 in fifth grade, according to the report.
Enrollment carries financial weight for the district because Arkansas ties much of its school funding to student counts. During the financial portion of the meeting, officials said the district ended April with an operating fund balance of about $9.5 million, roughly $221,000 ahead of the same point last year, but cautioned that they were uncertain how year-end funds would land.
“We’re still hoping for more tax revenue,” one official said.
The enrollment report came the same evening the board approved purchases tied to next year’s student needs, including 650 Chromebooks and bulk school supplies, both budgeted from federal Title I funds.
Officials noted one bright spot in the funding outlook. They credited Auxiliary Services Director Chris Knight with raising the district’s free and reduced-price lunch percentage to its highest level on record this year, which they said should help keep federal funding stable even as student numbers fall.
“We do have a decreased number of students, but we’re hoping that that at least equals out or improves,” one official said.
