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Plentywood, Montana - 3 schools
An equity score of 43/100 ranks Plentywood K-12 Schools #49 of 141 districts in Montana (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $14,214 per pupil, Plentywood K-12 Schools ranks #236 of 394 Montana districts by per-pupil spending (Montana districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
371
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$14,214
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Plentywood K-12 Schools operates 3 public schools serving 371 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Montana. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 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 Sheridan County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $14,214 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 48.0% local, 41.2% state, and 10.8% 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 43/100, ranked #49 of 141 in Montana against a state average of 38, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 113.7:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 25.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 87.9% White, 2.3% Hispanic or Latino, 1.6% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Plentywood School, with a diversity index of 29.8/100.
Its largest campus is Plentywood School, enrolling 179 students (52% of the district's total enrollment).
Plentywood School accounts for 48.2% of all Plentywood K-12 Schools student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Plentywood K-12 Schools a distant remainder — means Plentywood 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.
Plentywood K-12 Schools school enrollment varies 2.9× across entities
Plentywood K-12 Schools school enrollment ranges from 61 students (lowest) to 179 students (highest), a spread of 118 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.
Plentywood K-12 Schools student-counselor ratio is 114:1 — 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.
Plentywood K-12 Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 25.6% — 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 Plentywood K-12 Schools is typically wider than the Plentywood K-12 Schools-aggregate figure suggests.