Ekalaka Elem operates 2 public schools serving 81 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Montana. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 other, 1 middle schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage before they move, rent, or enrol. Aggregated across those campuses, enrollment totals 94 pupils using the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is geographically located in Carter County County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $20,144 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 51.6% local, 25.9% state, and 22.5% 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 $107,167 per NCES F-33, a signal of the district's ability to recruit and retain staff against neighbouring districts.
a 128.3:1 student-counselor ratio that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 32.9% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 88.8% White, 2.0% Hispanic or Latino, 1.4% Asian across the district's schools.
Ekalaka Elementary School accounts for 73.4% of all Ekalaka Elem student enrollment
That concentration — well above the 8.4% national median for largest-entity share — means Ekalaka 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.
Ekalaka Elem student-counselor ratio is 128:1 — 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.
Ekalaka Elem chronic absenteeism rate is 32.9% — 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.