Superintendent Dr. Jeri Kay Hardy told the Gasconade County R-2 Board of Education on Oct. 20 that enrollment numbers are down from 1,780 to 1,748 for the 2025-26 school year.

“We started the year with 105 students in pre-k, where we had 115 last year,” Hardy said. “That cohort has stayed pretty close. They’ve lost three students from last year to this year, but we gained three students in first grade because they went from 111 to 114. We lost two in second grade, and then lost three in third grade. We lost three in fourth grade, and fifth grade stayed the same.”

Grades sixth and seventh enrollment numbers went up.

“We’ll go down in other grade levels, but our numbers are at 1,748 for this year,” Hardy said.

Reasons for flat enrollment varied.

“One thing we need more of in our area is housing,” Hardy told the board. “There’s not a lot of new housing being built.”

Industry was also mentioned.

“Housing and industry is what drives enrollment,” Hardy said. “Then we have some students who have, you know, who have gone to homeschool, because now some of those students can participate in activities with schools.”

Board President Glenn Ely asked Hardy about the district’s homeschool numbers compared to recent years.

“They don’t have to report that to us if they are going homeschool,” Hardy said. “They only have to report that to the prosecuting attorney’s office.”

The trend is happening at other school districts as well.

“One thing I will let you know is that other districts have their board asking (about flat or decreased enrollment numbers) because they’ve lost a lot of students,” Hardy began. “And so we actually have all plugged our numbers into a spreadsheet, and that is a trend throughout this area. Student enrollments are dropping in all of our area schools, except for one K-8 school. That K-8, they had gained a little bit of enrollment, but every other district in our conference had lost, some a lot more significantly than what we have.”

Missouri’s virtual student learning numbers have also increased to nearly 30,000 enrolled. Hardy said the state is researching why homeschool numbers are on the rise.

“I think you may see some legislation in Missouri also about some of the students who are going homeschool, and the reasons behind it,” she said. “They have found that it’s not always for better academics. How do we keep an eye on these kids to ensure their, you know, nutrition, safety, security and so on? I think you may see some of that stuff coming out of the legislative session, because there have been some pretty bad news stories on some things relating to homeschool kids.”

The district’s enrollment is down by 32 students between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years.