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Tea, South Dakota - 6 schools
An equity score of 21/100 ranks Tea Area School District 41-5 #117 of 121 districts in South Dakota (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $8,726 per pupil, Tea Area School District 41-5 ranks #149 of 149 South Dakota districts by per-pupil spending (South Dakota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,361
Total Enrollment
6
Schools
$8,726
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Tea Area School District 41-5 operates 6 public schools serving 2,361 students, placing it among the smallest districts in South Dakota. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle, 1 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 Lincoln County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $8,726 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the bottom 15 of 149 South Dakota districts by per-pupil spending. See how South Dakota compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 39.3% local, 50.0% state, and 10.8% 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 21/100, ranked #117 of 121 in South Dakota against a state average of 51, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 6 schools offering Advanced Placement (3 AP courses district-wide), a 404.9:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 7.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 77.4% White, 8.6% Hispanic or Latino, 4.8% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Tea Area Frontier Elementary - 05, with a diversity index of 64.4/100.
Its largest campus is Tea Area High School - 03, enrolling 717 students (28% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Tea Area Preschool - 07, at 73 students, a 10x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Tea Area High School - 03 accounts for 27.8% of all Tea Area School District 41-5 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Tea Area School District 41-5-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: high. 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.
Tea Area School District 41-5 school enrollment varies 9.8× across entities
Tea Area School District 41-5 school enrollment ranges from 73 students (lowest) to 717 students (highest), a spread of 644 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.
Tea Area School District 41-5 student-counselor ratio is 405:1 — high (typically associated with staffing constraints that limit per-student counselor time; CRDC data shows higher ratios cluster in larger urban systems)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Tea Area School District 41-5 chronic absenteeism rate is 7.8% — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 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.
Comparisons are relative to Tea Area School District 41-5's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in South Dakota
Top districts in the same state, compare side-by-side for enrollment, spending, and demographics.
How many schools are in Tea Area School District 41-5?
Tea Area School District 41-5 has 6 schools, including 1 high, 1 middle, 3 elementary, 1 combined. Total enrollment is 2,361 students.
How much does Tea Area School District 41-5 spend per student?
Tea Area School District 41-5 spends $8,726 per student. The district has an equity score of 21/100, ranking #117 in South Dakota.
What is the demographic composition of Tea Area School District 41-5?
Tea Area School District 41-5 students are 77.4% White, 8.6% Hispanic or Latino, 4.8% African American, 1.7% Asian, averaged across 6 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Tea Area School District 41-5?
Tea Area School District 41-5 has an equity score of 21/100, ranking #117 out of 121 districts in South Dakota.