District Spotlight
Upton's Oil Boom: A Tiny District Quadrupled in Three Years
Weston County School District #7 went from 222 students to 902 in three years, driven by Powder River Basin oil activity. The boom has already started to recede.
Wyoming
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of Wyoming, grounded in Wyoming Department of Education data.
Special Education Graduation Rate Hasn't Budged in 16 Years: 62.9% in 2010, 62.8% in 2025
Wyoming's 4-year graduation rate for students receiving special education services was 62.8% in 2024-25, essentially where it stood in 2009-10, while the groups that started even further behind gained 9 to 17 points.
Students in Foster Care Graduate at 51.4% in Wyoming, the Widest Gap of Any Subgroup
Students in foster care had Wyoming's lowest published 2025 graduation rate, 51.4%, with a 31.7-point gap below the state average.
Wyoming Hits 83.1% Graduation High -- But Trails the Latest National Benchmark
Wyoming's 4-year graduation rate hit 83.1% in 2024-25, the high in the state's available 2010-2025 package series, with the largest cohort and most graduates in that window.
K-8 Enrollment Is Falling While High School Still Holds Up
Wyoming's K-8 enrollment has fallen 12.4% since the 2016 peak, while high school actually grew 4%. The divergence is temporary — small K classes will reach HS by 2032.
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Enrollment
The Energy Divide: Coal and Gas Counties Losing Students Three Times Faster
Wyoming's energy-producing counties have lost 14.9% of their enrollment since 2016, nearly three times the rate of non-energy districts.
Enrollment
Peak Was 2016, Not 2020: Wyoming's Decline Predates COVID by Four Years
Wyoming's enrollment peaked at 94,002 in 2016, driven by the energy boom. The state was already losing students before the pandemic arrived.
District Spotlight
Rock Springs: The Canary in the Gas Mine
Sweetwater #1 has lost 22.1% of enrollment since its 2016 peak of 5,749 students, the steepest decline among Wyoming's mid-size and large districts.
Covid Impact
Only 6 of 48 Districts Have Recovered from COVID
Wyoming was among the first states to reopen schools, yet only 6 of 48 districts have returned to pre-COVID enrollment. The post-pandemic decline has been 2.7 times larger than the initial COVID drop.
District Spotlight
Casper's Enrollment Decline Has Accelerated for Three Straight Years
Natrona County School District #1 lost 443 students in 2025-26, capping three straight years of accelerating decline that has erased 25 years of growth.
Grade Shift
Wyoming Now Has More Seniors Than Kindergartners for the Third Year Running
Wyoming enrolled 6,064 kindergartners in 2025-26 — 25 percent below the 2014 peak — while Grade 12 sits near an all-time high. The grade pipeline tells the next decade's story.
District Spotlight
Cheyenne's 8-School Closure Plan: The Largest District Hits the Wall
Laramie County School District #1, Wyoming's largest, has lost 1,402 students since 2020 and plans to close 8 elementary schools through 2035. Parents have sued to stop it.
Enrollment
One-Third of Wyoming Districts Hit All-Time Lows in 2026
Seventeen of Wyoming's 51 districts — 33 percent — are at their lowest enrollment in the 26-year data record, and the two largest are within striking distance.
District Spotlight
One Student: Glendo High School and Wyoming's Vanishing Rural Schools
Glendo High School enrolled one student in 2025-26. One of 19 Wyoming schools with fewer than 10, part of a rural system in the least populated state.
Enrollment
Wyoming's Worst Year: 2026 Decline Shatters 26-Year Record
Wyoming lost 2,483 students in 2025-26, the largest single-year decline in the state's 26-year enrollment record, surpassing even the COVID drop.
