The Basin Elementary board on Monday voted unanimously to shutter the school, founded in 1895 and one of Montana’s oldest schoolhouses.
The school has not permanently closed, but instead entered non-operational status, under which it has three years to find students and a teacher. “As we have no educators or incoming students for the 2025-26 school year, it was necessary for our school to go into non-operational status,” school board chair Shannon Phillips told The Monitor.
Basin’s school is not alone in facing its mortality. Declining funding, budget shortfalls, and reduced enrollment are forcing smaller schools across the state and the country to consider closure. Billings shuttered Washington Elementary last year, sparking outrage, while Helena shut down its 100-year-old Hawthorne School last week.
