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Carlton, Minnesota - 2 schools
An equity score of 68/100 ranks Carlton Public School District #81 of 410 districts in Minnesota (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,091 per pupil, Carlton Public School District ranks #126 of 504 Minnesota districts by per-pupil spending (Minnesota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
342
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$16,091
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Carlton Public School District operates 2 public schools serving 342 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 Carlton County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,091 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 504 Minnesota districts by per-pupil spending. See how Minnesota compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 28.1% local, 57.4% state, and 14.4% 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 68/100, ranked #81 of 410 in Minnesota against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 154:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 35.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 78.2% White, 1.1% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is South Terrace Elementary, enrolling 163 students (53% of the district's total enrollment).
South Terrace Elementary accounts for 47.7% of all Carlton Public School District student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Carlton Public School District a distant remainder — means Carlton Public School District-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.
Carlton Public School District student-counselor ratio is 154:1 — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 Values this far below typical often correlate with unusually small scale or population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se — worth checking whether the underlying denominator is itself an outlier.
Carlton Public School District chronic absenteeism rate is 35.0% — 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.
Comparisons are relative to Carlton Public School District's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in Minnesota
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