Hilltop Day Care and Preschool

Hilltop Day Care and Preschool is a micro-enrollment primary school in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, run under Rice Lake Area School District. The school teaches 21 students in grade pre-K. Compared to the state average of about 323 students per school, that is 93% leaner than typical.

Rice Lake Area School District comprises 6 schools with combined enrollment of 2,096 students; Hilltop Day Care and Preschool is among them.

On demographics, Hilltop Day Care and Preschool logs that White students make up the majority at 67%. The remainder reads as 29% Hispanic, 5% multiracial. By comparison, Barron County as a whole is about 92% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 1 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 38.2:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 14.7:1 average. Roughly 14% of students at Hilltop Day Care and Preschool qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is below Barron County's rate of about 41%.

In the broader community, Barron County reports that the typical household earns roughly $65,933 per year, 23% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. In all, Barron County runs 36 public schools (combined enrollment of about 7,199 students), of which Hilltop Day Care and Preschool is one.

Hilltop Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 4 other public schools cluster around Hilltop Day Care and Preschool.

Geographically, the school is in a small-town area.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Hilltop Day Care and Preschool has expanded 24%, going from 17 students in 2018 to 21 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment expanded from 12% to 29% over that span. Class-load math has loosened: from 17.0:1 in 2018 to 38.2:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.