Medicine Lake School

Medicine Lake School is an one-room-style elementary campus in Medicine Lake, Montana, run under Medicine Lake K-12 Schools. The school works with 47 students in grades pre-K through 6. That puts it 72% smaller than the typical public school in Montana, which averages around 167 students.

Medicine Lake K-12 Schools runs 3 schools in total, collectively educating 88 students. Medicine Lake School is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, Medicine Lake School shows that 87% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school shows 9% Native American, 4% Hispanic. That composition is broadly in line with Sheridan County as a whole.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Medicine Lake School has 7 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 7.1:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 11.9:1, putting Medicine Lake School tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 43% of students at Medicine Lake School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

Across the wider county, Sheridan County reports that median household income runs about $70,147, roughly 26% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Across Sheridan County's 9 public schools (combined enrollment of about 486 students), Medicine Lake School is one campus in the mix.

Medicine Lake 7-8 is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The school occupies a countryside site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 29%: 66 students in 2018 compared to 47 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment ticked up from 0% to 4% over that span.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.