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Grafton, North Dakota - 3 schools
An equity score of 51/100 ranks Grafton 18 #45 of 101 districts in North Dakota (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $11,631 per pupil, Grafton 18 ranks #163 of 168 North Dakota districts by per-pupil spending (North Dakota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
949
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$11,631
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Grafton 18 operates 3 public schools serving 949 students, placing it among the smallest districts in North Dakota. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 combined, 1 high, 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 Walsh County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $11,631 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the bottom 17 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 20.9% local, 55.5% state, and 23.5% 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 51/100, ranked #45 of 101 in North Dakota against a state average of 51, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
and 28.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 57.2% White, 36.1% Hispanic or Latino, 1.0% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Grafton High School, with a diversity index of 55.5/100.
Its largest campus is Century Elementary School, enrolling 532 students (56% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Grafton Junior High School, at 137 students, a 4x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Century Elementary School accounts for 55.8% of all Grafton 18 student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Grafton 18 a distant remainder — means Grafton 18-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.
Grafton 18 school enrollment varies 3.9× across entities
Grafton 18 school enrollment ranges from 137 students (lowest) to 532 students (highest), a spread of 395 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous campus portfolio, most districts have a wider mix of school sizes. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Grafton 18 chronic absenteeism rate is 28.5% — 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 Grafton 18 is typically wider than the Grafton 18-aggregate figure suggests.