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Forsyth, Montana - 2 schools
An equity score of 49/100 ranks Forsyth Elem #36 of 141 districts in Montana (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $13,376 per pupil, Forsyth Elem ranks #267 of 394 Montana districts by per-pupil spending (Montana districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
202
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$13,376
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Forsyth Elem operates 2 public schools serving 202 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Montana. The school portfolio breaks down into 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 Rosebud County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $13,376 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 394 Montana districts by per-pupil spending. See how Montana compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 43.9% local, 37.4% state, and 18.7% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one. The district's equity score is 49/100, ranked #36 of 141 in Montana against a state average of 38, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 175.5:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 22.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 83.3% White, 0.7% Hispanic or Latino, 0.3% African American across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Forsyth Elementary School, enrolling 159 students (83% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Forsyth 7-8, at 33 students, a 5x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Forsyth Elementary School accounts for 78.7% of all Forsyth Elem student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Forsyth Elem a distant remainder — means Forsyth Elem-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.
Forsyth Elem student-counselor ratio is 176:1 — 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.
Forsyth Elem chronic absenteeism rate is 22.1% — 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 Forsyth Elem is typically wider than the Forsyth Elem-aggregate figure suggests.