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Hector, Minnesota - 2 schools
An equity score of 46/100 ranks Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart #234 of 410 districts in Minnesota (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,299 per pupil, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart ranks #404 of 504 Minnesota districts by per-pupil spending (Minnesota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
468
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$12,299
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart operates 2 public schools serving 468 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Minnesota. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 combined schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Renville County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,299 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 23.4% local, 66.3% state, and 10.3% 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 46/100, ranked #234 of 410 in Minnesota against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 186:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 27.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 76.2% White, 17.3% Hispanic or Latino, 1.0% African American across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Buffalo Lake-Hector Secondary, enrolling 245 students (57% of the district's total enrollment).
Buffalo Lake-Hector Secondary accounts for 52.4% of all Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart a distant remainder — means Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: combined. 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 Lake-Hector-Stewart student-counselor ratio is 186:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart chronic absenteeism rate is 27.6% — 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 Lake-Hector-Stewart is typically wider than the Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart-aggregate figure suggests.