Great Falls Elem

Great Falls Elem serves 7,032 students across 17 schools in Cascade County, Montana's largest city locale. The district experienced a 1.1% enrollment decline from the prior year, representing a slight contraction in student population. With 460 teachers, the district maintains a student-teacher ratio of 15.3:1, which aligns with typical elementary-focused configurations given its school composition of 15 elementary and 2 middle schools.

Financially, Great Falls Elem operates on a $90.6 million total budget but allocates $7,035 per pupil, substantially below Montana's state average of $11,207. This represents a significant gap of approximately $4,172 per student annually. The district's revenue structure reflects a balanced funding model: 41.3% from state sources, 37.9% from local revenue, and 20.7% from federal funding. This reliance on state and local contributions suggests moderate financial diversity, though the overall per-pupil spending indicates resource constraints compared to state benchmarks.

The district's primarily elementary focus, with only two middle schools serving a student body of over 7,000, suggests either feeder patterns to external middle schools or significant grade-configuration differences. The slight enrollment decline warrants monitoring to determine whether this reflects demographic shifts in Cascade County or temporary fluctuation. The funding disparity relative to state averages may impact programmatic capacity and resource availability across the 17-school system.