Hot Springs 7-8

Located at 301 Broadway, in Hot Springs, Montana, Hot Springs 7-8 is a tiny middle-grades school that instructs 26 students (grades 7 through 8), operated by Hot Springs K-12. That puts it 81% leaner than the typical public school in Montana, which averages around 139 students.

Hot Springs K-12 runs 3 schools in total, collectively educating 197 students. Hot Springs 7-8 is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Hot Springs 7-8 shows that 65% of the student body identifies as White. Beyond that, the school shows 23% multiracial, 8% Native American, 4% Hispanic. By comparison, Sanders County as a whole is about 89% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Hot Springs 7-8 has 2 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 12.4:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 11.3:1, putting Hot Springs 7-8 higher than the state norm the norm. About 58% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Sanders County runs at roughly 91%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

In the surrounding community, census data for Sanders County shows median household earnings sit near $57,476, roughly 22% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. Across Sanders County's 16 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,321 students), Hot Springs 7-8 is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Hot Springs School, around 0.0 miles off. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The campus sits in an outlying setting. Hot Springs 7-8 delivers learning online rather than in a traditional classroom setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged up 4%: 25 students in 2018 compared to 26 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share edged down from 76% to 65%. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 9.0:1 in 2018 to 12.4:1 today.

On this page, members of the Hot Springs 7-8 community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.