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Highmore, South Dakota - 3 schools
An equity score of 52/100 ranks Highmore-Harrold 34-2 #53 of 121 districts in South Dakota (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,967 per pupil, Highmore-Harrold 34-2 ranks #73 of 149 South Dakota districts by per-pupil spending (South Dakota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
222
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$12,967
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Highmore-Harrold 34-2 operates 3 public schools serving 222 students, placing it among the smallest districts in South 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 Hyde County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,967 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 65.9% local, 13.9% state, and 20.2% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 52/100, ranked #53 of 121 in South Dakota against a state average of 51, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 3 schools offering Advanced Placement (1 AP courses district-wide), a 76.3:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 17.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 78.8% White, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 1.5% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Highmore Jr. High - 03, with a diversity index of 43.8/100.
Its largest campus is Highmore Elementary - 02, enrolling 133 students (58% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Highmore Jr. High - 03, at 34 students, a 4x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Highmore Elementary - 02 accounts for 58.1% of all Highmore-Harrold 34-2 student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Highmore-Harrold 34-2 a distant remainder — means Highmore-Harrold 34-2-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.
Highmore-Harrold 34-2 school enrollment varies 3.9× across entities
Highmore-Harrold 34-2 school enrollment ranges from 34 students (lowest) to 133 students (highest), a spread of 99 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.
Highmore-Harrold 34-2 student-counselor ratio is 76:1 — 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.
Highmore-Harrold 34-2 chronic absenteeism rate is 17.4% — 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 Highmore-Harrold 34-2 is typically wider than the Highmore-Harrold 34-2-aggregate figure suggests.