Cardwell Elem operates 1 public schools serving 40 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Montana. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 other schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage before they move, rent, or enrol. Aggregated across those campuses, enrollment totals 35 pupils using the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is geographically located in Jefferson County County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,235 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, which aggregates every revenue and spending line reported under federal accounting standards. The funding mix is 44.2% local, 29.3% state, and 26.5% federal — a breakdown that matters because districts leaning heavily on local revenue are more exposed to property-tax swings, while higher federal shares typically track Title I concentration. Average teacher compensation clocks in at $116,912 per NCES F-33, a signal of the district's ability to recruit and retain staff against neighbouring districts.
and 34.3% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 80.0% White, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools.
Cardwell School accounts for 100.0% of all Cardwell Elem student enrollment
That concentration — well above the 8.4% national median for largest-entity share — means Cardwell Elem-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: other. 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.
Cardwell Elem chronic absenteeism rate is 34.3% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.