Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal
records, no number is typed in by an editor. District totals are aggregated directly from the schools reporting under this district in the source records. See our
editorial standards & corrections policy, the
methodology behind these numbers, or
report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.
Kelliher, Minnesota - 2 schools
An equity score of 89/100 ranks Kelliher Public School District #18 of 410 districts in Minnesota (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $21,316 per pupil, Kelliher Public School District ranks #33 of 504 Minnesota districts by per-pupil spending (Minnesota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
329
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$21,316
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Kelliher Public School District operates 2 public schools serving 329 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Minnesota. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 combined 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 Beltrami County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $21,316 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 51 of 504 Minnesota districts by per-pupil spending. See how Minnesota compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 12.8% local, 60.2% state, and 27.0% 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 89/100, ranked #18 of 410 in Minnesota against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 155.5:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 40.7% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 51.5% White across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Kelliher Elementary, enrolling 168 students (54% of the district's total enrollment).
Kelliher Elementary accounts for 51.1% of all Kelliher Public School District student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Kelliher Public School District a distant remainder — means Kelliher Public School District-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.
Kelliher Public School District has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 64.3% of the population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch
free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is the federal threshold for Title I funding allocations, established under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015). Eligibility here is approaching the 75% concentration-grant threshold; it does not yet unlock the extra funding tier but sits meaningfully above the baseline 50% majority mark. Regions with eligibility this high typically draw a substantially larger federal funding share relative to their local tax base, which can either offset or reinforce existing gaps depending on allocation policy.
Kelliher Public School District student-counselor ratio is 156:1 — 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.
Kelliher Public School District chronic absenteeism rate is 40.7% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Comparisons are relative to Kelliher Public School District's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in Minnesota
Top districts in the same state, compare side-by-side for enrollment, spending, and demographics.