Waubay School District 18-3 operates 3 public schools serving 183 students, placing it among the smaller districts in South Dakota. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 other, 1 high, 1 middle schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage before they move, rent, or enrol. Aggregated across those campuses, enrollment totals 177 pupils using the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2022-23 release, and the district is geographically located in Day County County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $21,561 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, which aggregates every revenue and spending line reported under federal accounting standards. The funding mix is 37.4% local, 19.0% state, and 43.5% federal — a breakdown that matters because districts leaning heavily on local revenue are more exposed to property-tax swings, while higher federal shares typically track Title I concentration. Average teacher compensation clocks in at $87,250 per NCES F-33, a signal of the district's ability to recruit and retain staff against neighbouring districts.
a 119.6:1 student-counselor ratio that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 55.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 59.7% White, 1.4% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools.
Waubay Elementary - 02 accounts for 49.7% of all Waubay School District 18-3 student enrollment
That concentration — well above the 8.4% national median for largest-entity share — means Waubay School District 18-3-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: other. 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.
Waubay School District 18-3 school enrollment varies 3.7× across entities
Waubay School District 18-3 school enrollment ranges from 24 students (lowest) to 88 students (highest), a spread of 64 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.
Waubay School District 18-3 student-counselor ratio is 120:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Waubay School District 18-3 chronic absenteeism rate is 55.0% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.