Hancock County schools welcomed 6,209 students in the 2023-24 school year, 2.2% less than the previous year, according to the Maine Department of Education.
Hancock County had the eighth least enrollment numbers in the state.
According to the data, 50.1% of the students enrolled in the 2023-24 school year were girls, and 49.9% were boys.
Most of the students enrolled in the 2023-24 school year were white, representing 90.1% of the Hancock County student body.
Within the county, Ellsworth Elementary-Middle School had the highest enrollment in the school year, welcoming 730 students.
While Maine’s public school enrollment has slightly rebounded from the sharp drop during the 2020-21 school year, it remains about 4% below pre-pandemic levels. The decline is partly due to an increase in homeschooling and more students completing high school early through college courses and adult education.
“Adult education enrollment is up, providing high school completion and job training programs to meet individual needs,” said a spokesman for the Maine Department of Education in an interview with Maine Public. Additionally, some pandemic-related factors persist, with “some parents choosing not to enroll younger children in school and older students who took on jobs to support their families during the pandemic and who are still counted on to provide that support.”
As of 2024, the average student-to-teacher ratio in public schools in Maine is 11:1, much lower than the national average of one teacher for every 15 students.
| School Name | Total Enrollment in 2022-23 | Total Enrollment in 2023-24 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adams School | 49 | 50 | 2% |
| Airline Community School | 39 | 28 | -28.2% |
| Beech Hill School | 91 | 77 | -15.4% |
| Blue Hill Consolidated School | 259 | 259 | 0% |
| Brooklin School | 56 | 52 | -7.1% |
| Brooksville Elementary School | 46 | 42 | -8.7% |
| Bucksport High School | 344 | 351 | 2% |
| Bucksport Middle School | 277 | 291 | 5.1% |
| Conners-Emerson School | 333 | 351 | 5.4% |
| Cranberry Isles School | 7 | 10 | 42.9% |
| Dedham School | 147 | 149 | 1.4% |
| Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School | 204 | 230 | 12.7% |
| Deer Isle-Stonington High School | 110 | 88 | -20% |
| Ellsworth Elementary-Middle School | 752 | 730 | -2.9% |
| Ellsworth High School | 524 | 507 | -3.2% |
| Frenchboro Elementary School | 5 | 5 | 0% |
| G. Herbert Jewett School | 131 | 121 | -7.6% |
| Hancock Grammar School | 180 | 174 | -3.3% |
| Lamoine Consolidated School | 125 | 131 | 4.8% |
| Miles Lane School | 300 | 301 | 0.3% |
| Mt. Desert Elementary School | 151 | 155 | 2.6% |
| Mt. Desert Island High School | 493 | 472 | -4.3% |
| Pemetic Elementary School | 132 | 123 | -6.8% |
| Penobscot Elementary School | 70 | 66 | -5.7% |
| Sedgwick Elementary School | 74 | 75 | 1.4% |
| Sumner Memorial High School | 262 | 232 | -11.5% |
| Surry Elementary School | 139 | 131 | -5.8% |
| Swans Island Elementary School | 28 | 22 | -21.4% |
| Tremont Consolidated School | 120 | 135 | 12.5% |
| Trenton Elementary School | 143 | 141 | -1.4% |
| Blue Hill Harbor School | 38 | 28 | -26.3% |
| George Stevens Academy | 270 | 240 | -11.1% |
| Cave Hill School | 61 | 57 | -6.6% |
| Mountain View School | 141 | 144 | 2.1% |
| Peninsula School | 83 | 79 | -4.8% |
| Sumner Middle School | 167 | 162 | -3% |