An equity score of 75/100 ranks Northland Community Schools #50 of 410 districts in Minnesota (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $21,033 per pupil, Northland Community Schools ranks #40 of 509 Minnesota districts by per-pupil spending (Minnesota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
362
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$21,033
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Northland Community Schools operates 3 public schools serving 362 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Minnesota. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 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 Cass County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $21,033 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 51 of 509 Minnesota districts by per-pupil spending. See how Minnesota compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 31.3% local, 52.4% state, and 16.3% 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 75/100, ranked #50 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 10:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 45.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 63.4% White, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Northland Elementary, with a diversity index of 52.6/100.
Its largest campus is Northland Elementary, enrolling 185 students (54% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Little Sand, at 10 students, a 19x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Northland Elementary accounts for 51.1% of all Northland Community Schools student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Northland Community Schools a distant remainder — means Northland Community Schools-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade band: combined. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how the district allocates programs, capital, or staff. Because it contains a majority of the affected population, enrollment-weighted aggregates will sit closer to this entity's reported fields than to those of smaller peers; an unweighted entity count answers a different question.
Northland Community Schools school enrollment varies 19× across entities
Northland Community Schools school enrollment ranges from 10 students (lowest) to 185 students (highest), a spread of 175 students. That spread reflects typical mixed-portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Northland Community Schools reports 67.0% free-lunch eligibility
The reported share sits between 62.5% and 75%, above a simple majority but below the highest descriptive band used here. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.
Northland Community Schools student-counselor ratio is 10:1 — 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.
Northland Community Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 45.0% — 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.