More students enrolled in Lake County’s only school district in 2024-25 school year

The only school district in Lake County had rising enrollment in the 2024-25 school year, according to the Michigan Department of Education.

Baldwin Community Schools welcomed 442 students in the 2024-25 school year, a 5% increase from the previous year, bucking the state’s trend of declining enrollment.

Of all the students welcomed in the 2024-25 school year, 52.5% of them were boys, and 47.5% were girls.

Data also showed that most of the students were white, representing 60.2% of the Baldwin Community Schools total enrollment.

Baldwin Community Schools has a main office in Baldwin and is the only school district within Lake County.

In the 2024-25 school year, 1,427,386 students enrolled in Michigan schools, a figure 4.8% below the pre-pandemic total of 1,499,552 in 2019-20, with white students seeing the largest decline of approximately 3%.

Academic performance in Michigan remains below pre-pandemic levels. According to the 2024 NAEP results, the share of students reaching the basic benchmark in core subjects is about 10 percentage points lower than in 2019—except for fourth-grade math, which saw a decline of just 2 points.

Achievement gaps between ethnic groups also persist. On average, Hispanic students scored 15 points below white students. The gap was even wider for Black students, who scored about 30 points lower than their white peers.

The 2025 education budget, approved by Gov. Whitmer last July, totals $23.4 billion—$900 million less than the previous year’s budget. K-12 schools are working with $20.6 billion, a reduction from the $21.5 billion allocated in 2024.

However, some school superintendents and educators were concerned about the new budget. “Schools cannot function properly without adequate funding for safety and mental health,” stated Rep. David Martin, R-Davison, referring to a significant cut of around $301 million from school safety and mental health programs. Based on the current bill, the program will receive just $26.5 million.