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Moorhead, Minnesota - 11 schools
An equity score of 67/100 ranks Moorhead Area Public Schools #82 of 410 districts in Minnesota (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $14,257 per pupil, Moorhead Area Public Schools ranks #247 of 504 Minnesota districts by per-pupil spending (Minnesota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
7,412
Total Enrollment
11
Schools
$14,257
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Moorhead Area Public Schools operates 11 public schools serving 7,412 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Minnesota. The school portfolio breaks down into 6 elementary, 4 combined, 1 high schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly before they move, rent, or enrol. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Clay County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $14,257 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 504 Minnesota districts by per-pupil spending. See how Minnesota compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 19.3% local, 64.8% state, and 15.9% 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 67/100, ranked #82 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.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 11 schools offering Advanced Placement (11 AP courses district-wide), a 527.2:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 24.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 54.7% White, 15.9% African American, 14.7% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is West Central Academy-N, with a diversity index of 78.8/100.
Its largest campus is Horizon Middle School, enrolling 2,158 students (29% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is West Central Academy-N, at 16 students, a 135x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Horizon Middle School accounts for 28.6% of all Moorhead Area Public Schools student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Moorhead Area Public Schools-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: elementary. 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.
Moorhead Area Public Schools school enrollment varies 135× across entities
Moorhead Area Public Schools school enrollment ranges from 16 students (lowest) to 2,158 students (highest), a spread of 2,142 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Moorhead Area Public Schools has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 53.7% 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). Areas above 75% eligibility receive concentration grants on top of the basic Title I formula. 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.
Moorhead Area Public Schools student-counselor ratio is 527:1 — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 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.
Moorhead Area Public Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 24.6% — 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 Moorhead Area Public Schools is typically wider than the Moorhead Area Public Schools-aggregate figure suggests.
How many schools are in Moorhead Area Public Schools?
Moorhead Area Public Schools has 11 schools, including 6 elementary, 1 high, 4 combined. Total enrollment is 7,412 students.
How much does Moorhead Area Public Schools spend per student?
Moorhead Area Public Schools spends $14,257 per student. The district has an equity score of 67/100, ranking #82 in Minnesota.
What is the demographic composition of Moorhead Area Public Schools?
Moorhead Area Public Schools students are 54.7% White, 15.9% African American, 14.7% Hispanic or Latino, 0.9% Asian, averaged across 11 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Moorhead Area Public Schools?
Moorhead Area Public Schools has an equity score of 67/100, ranking #82 out of 410 districts in Minnesota.