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.
Melrose, Minnesota - 3 schools
76
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
-
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
West Central Education District operates 3 public schools serving 76 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Minnesota. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 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 Stearns County.
The funding mix is 44.0% local, 24.5% state, and 31.5% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one.
. Demographically, the student body averages 62.9% White, 26.9% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Beacon Program W Central Ed. Dist., with a diversity index of 62.0/100.
West Central Education District B-2 accounts for 61.7% of all West Central Education District student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of West Central Education District a distant remainder — means West Central Education District-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.
West Central Education District school enrollment varies 5.0× across entities
West Central Education District school enrollment ranges from 10 students (lowest) to 50 students (highest), a spread of 40 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.
Comparisons are relative to West Central Education District's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in Minnesota
Top districts in the same state, compare side-by-side for enrollment, spending, and demographics.