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Buffalo, Minnesota - 10 schools
An equity score of 31/100 ranks Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools #331 of 410 districts in Minnesota (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $13,428 per pupil, Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools ranks #322 of 504 Minnesota districts by per-pupil spending (Minnesota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
5,313
Total Enrollment
10
Schools
$13,428
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools operates 10 public schools serving 5,313 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Minnesota. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 elementary, 3 combined, 2 high, 1 middle schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly before they move, rent, or enrol. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Wright County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $13,428 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 504 Minnesota districts by per-pupil spending. See how Minnesota compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 28.8% local, 62.8% state, and 8.4% federal, a state-revenue-heavy mix that insulates the district somewhat from local property-tax volatility, though it ties funding to state budget cycles. The district's equity score is 31/100, ranked #331 of 410 in Minnesota against a state average of 50, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 10 schools offering Advanced Placement (3 AP courses district-wide), a 403.5:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 23.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 86.7% White, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 3.4% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Tatanka Elementary Stem School, with a diversity index of 39.8/100.
Its largest campus is Buffalo Senior High, enrolling 1,681 students (32% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Phoenix Learning Center, at 36 students, a 47x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Buffalo Senior High accounts for 31.6% of all Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: high. A single dominant campus often anchors a district's program offerings and staffing patterns; the share helps explain why district-wide averages may not reflect the typical neighbourhood-school experience. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools school enrollment varies 47× across entities
Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools school enrollment ranges from 36 students (lowest) to 1,681 students (highest), a spread of 1,645 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme enrollment heterogeneity, the district operates both small specialty programs and large comprehensive campuses inside a single budgeting unit. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools student-counselor ratio is 404:1 — high (typically associated with staffing constraints that limit per-student counselor time; CRDC data shows higher ratios cluster in larger urban systems)
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 23.4% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Variation between sub-units within Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools is typically wider than the Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools-aggregate figure suggests.
Comparisons are relative to Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose Schools's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in Minnesota
Top districts in the same state, compare side-by-side for enrollment, spending, and demographics.