NW Minnesota News

There were 5,040 students enrolled in Polk County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 1.3% more than the previous year, according to reports from the Minnesota Department of Education.

In terms of gender distribution, the student body in Polk County comprised 52.6% boys, with girls representing the remaining 47.4%.

Data also showed that white students made up 75.4% of the student body, the largest percentage in Polk County schools, followed by Hispanic students with 10.9%, 7.1% American Indian students, 3.8% Black students, 2.2% multiracial students, 0.4% Asian students, less than 0.1% Hawaiian Pacific Islander students and less than 0.1% Other Indigenous Peoples students.

Crookston Secondary had the highest enrollment among Polk County's 17 schools in the 2023-24 school year, welcoming 616 students.

Minnesota's educational system, the 10th largest in the United States, serves over 869,000 students across 2,709 institutions. As of 2024, the student-to-teacher ratio in the state’s public schools is 1:16, slightly worse than the national average of 1:15.

Meanwhile, data from the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reveals that Minnesota fourth and eighth graders performed mostly above the national average in math, their scores suggest a slight decline from previous years, particularly in reading.

School name	Total enrollment in 2022-23	Total enrollment in 2023-24	% change
Crookston Secondary	547	616	12.6%
East Grand Forks Senior High	541	588	8.7%
New Heights Elementary	471	490	4%
Central Middle	444	438	-1.4%
South Point Elementary	433	426	-1.6%
Highland Elementary	435	392	-9.9%
Magelssen Elementary	343	344	0.3%
Fosston Secondary	278	274	-1.4%
Fertile-Beltrami Elementary	260	250	-3.8%
Fertile-Beltrami Secondary	244	242	-0.8%
Win-E-Mac Elementary	227	230	1.3%
Win-E-Mac Secondary	205	214	4.4%
Fisher Elementary	140	133	-5%
Washington Elementary	128	117	-8.6%
Climax Secondary	93	107	15.1%
Fisher Secondary	92	100	8.7%
Climax Elementary	96	79	-17.7%