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Kalispell, Montana - 7 schools
An equity score of 27/100 ranks Kalispell Elem #102 of 141 districts in Montana (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,023 per pupil, Kalispell Elem ranks #319 of 394 Montana districts by per-pupil spending (Montana districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
3,095
Total Enrollment
7
Schools
$12,023
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Kalispell Elem operates 7 public schools serving 3,095 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Montana. The school portfolio breaks down into 6 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 Flathead County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,023 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 41.8% local, 38.3% state, and 19.8% 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 27/100, ranked #102 of 141 in Montana against a state average of 38, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 318:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 43.7% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 84.8% White, 6.6% Hispanic or Latino, 0.8% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Elrod School, with a diversity index of 32.4/100.
Its largest campus is Kalispell Middle School, enrolling 1,049 students (34% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Russell School, at 223 students, a 5x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Kalispell Middle School accounts for 33.9% of all Kalispell Elem student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Kalispell Elem-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: middle. 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.
Kalispell Elem school enrollment varies 4.7× across entities
Kalispell Elem school enrollment ranges from 223 students (lowest) to 1,049 students (highest), a spread of 826 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.
Kalispell Elem student-counselor ratio is 318:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
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 Variation between sub-units within Kalispell Elem is typically wider than the Kalispell Elem-aggregate figure suggests.
Kalispell Elem chronic absenteeism rate is 43.7% — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 Values this far above typical often signal acute resource constraints or a structurally different scale than most peers — worth reading alongside the underlying counts, not the ratio alone.