North Iowa Reporter

There were 2,135 students enrolled in Winnebago County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 1.2% less than the previous year, according to the Iowa Department of Education.

Of all the students welcomed at the time, 50.1% identified as male, 49.7% as female, and 0.1% identified themselves as non-binary or did not specify their gender.

Data also showed that white students made up 83.5% of the student body, the largest percentage in Winnebago County schools, followed by Hispanic students with 10.3%, 3.8% multiracial, 1.5% Black, 0.7% Asian and 0.1% Native American.

Forest City Elementary School had the highest enrollment among Winnebago County’s nine schools in the 2023-24 school year, welcoming 398 students.

Public school enrollment in Iowa remained relatively stable in the 2024-25 school year, with 480,665 students, a slight decrease of 0.63% compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, enrollment in accredited nonpublic schools grew by nearly 10%, reaching 39,356 students, up from 36,195. This increase was partially driven by the Students First Education Savings (ESA) program, with 27,866 students utilizing ESAs at nonpublic schools.

Rank	School name	School district	Total enrollment in 2022-23	Total enrollment in 2023-24	% change
1	Forest City Elementary School	Forest City Comm	424	398	-6.1%
2	Forest City High School	Forest City Comm	324	333	2.8%
3	Forest City Middle School	Forest City Comm	330	319	-3.3%
4	Lake Mills Elementary School	Lake Mills Comm	283	280	-1.1%
5	North Iowa Elementary Buffalo Center	North Iowa Comm	222	217	-2.3%
6	Lake Mills Senior High School	Lake Mills Comm	210	213	1.4%
7	Lake Mills Middle School	Lake Mills Comm	145	141	-2.8%
8	North Iowa High School	North Iowa Comm	117	134	14.5%
9	North Iowa Middle School	North Iowa Comm	107	100	-6.5%