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.
Malta, Montana - 4 schools
An equity score of 51/100 ranks Malta K-12 Schools #32 of 141 districts in Montana (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $13,204 per pupil, Malta K-12 Schools ranks #276 of 394 Montana districts by per-pupil spending (Montana districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
519
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$13,204
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Malta K-12 Schools operates 4 public schools serving 519 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Montana. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 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 Phillips County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $13,204 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 38.5% local, 47.3% state, and 14.2% 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 51/100, ranked #32 of 141 in Montana against a state average of 38, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 4 schools offering Advanced Placement (2 AP courses district-wide), a 161.7:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 28.2% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 82.3% White, 2.7% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Malta 6-7-8, with a diversity index of 42.7/100.
Its largest campus is Malta K-5, enrolling 246 students (50% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Loring Colony School, at 7 students, a 35x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Malta K-5 accounts for 47.4% of all Malta K-12 Schools student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Malta K-12 Schools a distant remainder — means Malta K-12 Schools-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.
Malta K-12 Schools school enrollment varies 35× across entities
Malta K-12 Schools school enrollment ranges from 7 students (lowest) to 246 students (highest), a spread of 239 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme enrollment heterogeneity, the district operates both small specialty programs and large comprehensive campuses inside a single budgeting unit. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Malta K-12 Schools student-counselor ratio is 162:1 — 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.
Malta K-12 Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 28.2% — 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 Malta K-12 Schools is typically wider than the Malta K-12 Schools-aggregate figure suggests.