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.
Kalispell, Montana - 2 schools
An equity score of 41/100 ranks Smith Valley Elem #53 of 141 districts in Montana (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $11,142 per pupil, Smith Valley Elem ranks #344 of 394 Montana districts by per-pupil spending (Montana districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
224
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$11,142
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Smith Valley Elem operates 2 public schools serving 224 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Montana. The school portfolio breaks down into 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 Flathead County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $11,142 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 29.4% local, 51.6% state, and 19.0% 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 41/100, ranked #53 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 273.4:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 56.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 84.9% White, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 0.3% Asian across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Smith Valley Primary Schl, enrolling 148 students (78% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Smith Valley 7-8, at 42 students, a 4x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Smith Valley Primary Schl accounts for 66.1% of all Smith Valley Elem student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Smith Valley Elem a distant remainder — means Smith Valley Elem-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.
Smith Valley Elem student-counselor ratio is 273:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
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 Variation between sub-units within Smith Valley Elem is typically wider than the Smith Valley Elem-aggregate figure suggests.
Smith Valley Elem chronic absenteeism rate is 56.5% — 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.