St. Cloud Sun

There were 6,570 students enrolled in Benton County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 1.8% less than the previous year, according to reports from the Minnesota Department of Education.

In terms of gender distribution, the student body in Benton County comprised 51.1% boys, with girls representing the remaining 48.9%.

Data also showed that white students made up 83.2% of the student body, the largest percentage in Benton County schools, followed by Black students with 5.6%, 5.2% multiracial students, 4.1% Hispanic students, 0.9% Asian students, 0.9% American Indian students, 0.1% Other Indigenous Peoples students and less than 0.1% Hawaiian Pacific Islander students.

Sauk Rapids-Rice Senior High had the highest enrollment among Benton County's 10 schools in the 2023-24 school year, welcoming 1,317 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
Sauk Rapids-Rice Senior High	1,394	1,317	-5.5%
Sauk Rapids-Rice Middle School	1,045	1,067	2.1%
Mississippi Heights Elementary	848	817	-3.7%
Foley Intermediate Elementary	735	743	1.1%
Pleasantview Elementary	712	722	1.4%
Foley Senior High	621	603	-2.9%
Foley Elementary	569	579	1.8%
Rice Elementary	372	361	-3%
Lincoln Elementary	396	295	-25.5%
ALC - Sauk Rapids	--	66	--