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.
Waubay, South Dakota - 3 schools
At $15,511 per pupil, Waubay School District 18-3 ranks #30 of 149 South Dakota districts by per-pupil spending (South Dakota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
183
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$15,511
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Waubay School District 18-3 operates 3 public schools serving 183 students, placing it among the smallest districts in South Dakota. 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 Day County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,511 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half 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 37.4% local, 19.0% state, and 43.5% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one.
a 119.6:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 32.5% 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. Its most demographically mixed campus is Waubay Elementary - 02, with a diversity index of 55.6/100.
Its largest campus is Waubay Elementary - 02, enrolling 88 students (50% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Waubay Middle School - 03, at 24 students, a 4x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Waubay Elementary - 02 accounts for 48.1% of all Waubay School District 18-3 student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Waubay School District 18-3 a distant remainder — means Waubay School District 18-3-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.
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 — 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.
Waubay School District 18-3 chronic absenteeism rate is 32.5% — 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.