Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal
records, no number is typed in by an editor. District totals are aggregated directly from the schools reporting under this district in the source records. See our
editorial standards & corrections policy, the
methodology behind these numbers, or
report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.
Doland, South Dakota - 7 schools
At $15,308 per pupil, Doland School District 56-2 ranks #32 of 149 South Dakota districts by per-pupil spending (South Dakota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
165
Total Enrollment
7
Schools
$15,308
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Doland School District 56-2 operates 7 public schools serving 165 students, placing it among the smallest districts in South Dakota. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 elementary, 2 high, 1 combined, 1 middle 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 Spink County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,308 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 149 South Dakota districts by per-pupil spending. See how South Dakota compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 70.0% local, 13.2% state, and 16.8% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers.
a 23:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 18.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 96.3% White, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Doland Jr. High - 02, with a diversity index of 12.5/100.
Its largest campus is Doland Elementary - 03, enrolling 63 students (44% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Hillside Colony High School - 07, at 2 students, a 32x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Doland Elementary - 03 accounts for 38.2% of all Doland School District 56-2 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Doland School District 56-2-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.
Doland School District 56-2 school enrollment varies 32× across entities
Doland School District 56-2 school enrollment ranges from 2 students (lowest) to 63 students (highest), a spread of 61 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.
Doland School District 56-2 student-counselor ratio is 23:1 — 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.
Doland School District 56-2 chronic absenteeism rate is 18.1% — 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 Doland School District 56-2 is typically wider than the Doland School District 56-2-aggregate figure suggests.