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Fessenden, North Dakota - 2 schools
At $16,781 per pupil, Fessenden-Bowdon 25 ranks #87 of 168 North Dakota districts by per-pupil spending (North Dakota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
180
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$16,781
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Fessenden-Bowdon 25 operates 2 public schools serving 180 students, placing it among the smallest districts in North Dakota. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 combined, 1 high 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 Wells County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,781 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 168 North Dakota districts by per-pupil spending. See how North Dakota compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 42.8% local, 49.1% state, and 8.1% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one.
a 98:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 14.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 97.2% White, 0.7% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools.
Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School accounts for 71.4% of all Fessenden-Bowdon 25 student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Fessenden-Bowdon 25 a distant remainder — means Fessenden-Bowdon 25-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade band: combined. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how the district allocates programs, capital, or staff. Because it contains a majority of the affected population, enrollment-weighted aggregates will sit closer to this entity's reported fields than to those of smaller peers; an unweighted entity count answers a different question.
Fessenden-Bowdon 25 student-counselor ratio is 98:1 — 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.
Fessenden-Bowdon 25 chronic absenteeism rate is 14.8% — low (typically associated with lower-than-average attendance disruption; districts in this range often have attendance interventions, robust transportation, or smaller catchments that reduce barriers)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.