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Leola, South Dakota - 7 schools
An equity score of 76/100 ranks Leola School District 44-2 #17 of 121 districts in South Dakota (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,883 per pupil, Leola School District 44-2 ranks #27 of 149 South Dakota districts by per-pupil spending (South Dakota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
210
Total Enrollment
7
Schools
$15,883
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Leola School District 44-2 operates 7 public schools serving 210 students, placing it among the smallest districts in South Dakota. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 elementary, 2 high, 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 Mcpherson County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,883 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 55.0% local, 21.5% state, and 23.5% 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 76/100, ranked #17 of 121 in South Dakota against a state average of 51, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 118.2:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 37.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 94.6% White, 0.8% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Leola High School - 01, with a diversity index of 31.4/100.
Its largest campus is Leola Elementary - 02, enrolling 57 students (28% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Leola Alternative School - 07, at 11 students, a 5x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Leola Elementary - 02 accounts for 27.1% of all Leola School District 44-2 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Leola School District 44-2-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.
Leola School District 44-2 school enrollment varies 5.2× across entities
Leola School District 44-2 school enrollment ranges from 11 students (lowest) to 57 students (highest), a spread of 46 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.
Leola School District 44-2 student-counselor ratio is 118:1 — 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.
Leola School District 44-2 chronic absenteeism rate is 37.5% — 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.