At the most recent school board meeting for Lincoln County School District #2, Superintendent Matt Erickson spent a few minutes on enrollment which is always part of the monthly reports. But the trends continue to go down.
“As of September 2026 we have 2,753 students,” he told the trustees and the audience. “This is down 128 from September of 2025.”
Erickson noted that only two schools are technically “up” in the district. Cokeville Elementary is up three students and Star Valley Middle School is up one single student. He also reported that since the most recent MCER (Most Cost-Effective Remedy) study by the state of the valley’s elementary schools had a 90-student decrease. The enrollment reports have continued to reflect what is a nationwide trend at the local level. Fewer students coming through the halls.
“By looking at the elementary schools, there’s one grade level that has over 100 students,” he added. “The Osmond 5th grade. That’s a big change.”
Erickson concluded by noting the change in student enrollment was the equivalent of roughly $2.8 million in funding from the state level.
Star Valley Middle School
First-year principal, Jake Rich, reported to the board about his building, stating that they are at 30.84 full-time employees (FTE). The report also included that the 7th Grade math scores reflected 51% of students as advanced, not just proficient. 76% were shown to be proficient or above.
Mr. Rich also reported that the 8th Grade math scores were at 69% as proficient or higher compared to 54% at the state level.
Other categories were also reported as well above the state average.
Mr. Rich did reiterate a concern of a previous meeting about attendance with current attendance reported at 71.76. He stated they have plans in place to try and increase attendance to 90% or above and will utilize the Warrior Clan activities as an incentive.
Financials
Mr. Inskeep reported to the board that major projects under capital construction included the adoption of a new math curriculum, security Motorola repeaters and laptops. These items are state funded.
Mr. Inskeep also reported on a recent meeting at the state level with a significant amount of time spent on the new school recalibration. He stated that as a district, there is surplus money from COVID-19 programs and spending and is not taking away from other resources.
“We are also allowed to give staff an increase of pay,” he noted.
Mr. Inskeep also reported that there were many disagreements with those at the state level but that they all agree on educating children.
The district received two donations. One came from the Star Valley Ranch ladies golf organization. The other came from Marsha Combes for sheet metal working tools.
Superintendent Erickson reported that the district has effective status for the 2026-27 school year for accreditation.
Facilities
Mr. Warren Hicks praised the facilities staff for their work during the summer, reporting that the custodial team deep cleaned 361,160 square feet of district buildings in 11 weeks.
“That’s 33,000 square feet per week,” he said. “We did that with the fewest amount of staff we’ve ever had. We did this with refined techniques and practices and doing more with less.”
Mr. Hicks also reported a slight increase in maintenance department tickets from the previous year. A total of 31 more tickets were submitted from August 31, 2025 to September 1, 2026.
Some major projects still in progress include the final phase of the Star Valley Middle School roofing, the Swift Creek High School chiller, the Afton Elementary sound system, Cokeville High School stage rigging and lighting as well as the renovation of the transportation department.
Mr. Hicks stated a goal of the his department is to help reduce student absences district-wide by 5% through enhanced cleaning practices.
