MARSHALL — The Marshall Public Schools is reporting steady enrollment numbers across the board to start the 2025-26 school year, including significant increases at the high school level.

According to Superintendent Jeremy Williams, the district’s total enrollment head count of pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade to begin this school year has shows a five-student decrease compared to the 2024-25 ending school year enrollment numbers, indicating overall stability.

“Despite some fluctuations, most buildings showed minimal change over the first three weeks of school this year, indicating stable attendance patterns early in the school year,” Williams said. “This is relevant, as many years we see students who remain enrolled from the previous year, but move over the summer and may not always inform the school until the new year starts.”

The high school is seeing a notable increase of 35 students to begin this school year, compared to last year. Williams detailed the increase is due to strong retention and incoming transfer students.

Specifically, the ninth-grade class is the district’s largest grade-level increase with a growth of 28 students from last year’s end-of-year count. Williams noted the district expects to see higher enrollment at the high school this year.

The middle school’s enrollment and retention trend also showed consistency, Williams detailed.

At a school board meeting on June 2, district officials went over end-of-year enrollment numbers. The district ended with 2,465 enrolled students for the 2024-25 school year, which was a slight decrease from the 2023-24 end-of-year 2,506 enrolled students. Officials noted that the decreases are attributed to larger class sizes graduating, with naturally smaller class sizes coming through.

There also may be swings with enrollment numbers throughout the district as the year progresses forward, for a variety of reasons like transfer students going in or out and students that move during the year.

Also looking into this year, the Career and Technical Institute enrollment has peaked interest, with an 18% enrollment increase. The CTI center offers hands-on career-readiness courses for a variety of professions like healthcare, trades, automotive, welding and more.

The news comes after Marshall High School recorded its highest graduation rate in recent years with the 2024 class graduating 90% of seniors with 199 students, according to the Minnesota Department of Education. It was a jump from Marshall’s 2023 count of 178 students graduating at an 87.7% rate.

Both the Marshall district and high school were above the statewide consistent attendance rate in 2024, with the high school at 93.9% and the district overall with an 84% attendance rate. Consistent attendance is marked by students who attend school more than 90% of the time they are enrolled. The state rate was slated at 75.5%.

The 2025 graduation and attendance rates will be released later in the school year by the MDE.

“Marshall Public Schools continues to demonstrate stability in overall enrollment, with only a slight decrease from where we ended last year,” Williams said. “Notably, early childhood and high school programs saw encouraging growth, reflecting strong community engagement and successful student retention efforts across key levels.”