WC Minnesota News

There were 1,773 students enrolled in Swift County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 2.3% less than the previous year, according to reports from the Minnesota Department of Education.

In terms of gender distribution, the student body in Swift County comprised 51.7% boys, with girls representing the remaining 48.3%.

Data also showed that white students made up 75% of the student body, the largest percentage in Swift County schools, followed by Hispanic students with 13.2%, 5.4% Hawaiian Pacific Islander students, 2.8% multiracial students, 1.5% Asian students, 1.1% Black students, 1% American Indian students and 0.1% Other Indigenous Peoples students.

Murdock Elementary had the highest enrollment among Swift County's six schools in the 2023-24 school year, welcoming 402 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
Murdock Elementary	437	402	-8%
Kerkhoven Secondary	387	395	2.1%
Northside Elementary	406	383	-5.7%
Benson Secondary	353	356	0.8%
Appleton-Milan Elementary	206	223	8.3%
Benson Area Learning Center	25	14	-44%