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Willow Lake, South Dakota - 6 schools
An equity score of 34/100 ranks Willow Lake School District 12-3 #89 of 121 districts in South Dakota (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $11,121 per pupil, Willow Lake School District 12-3 ranks #107 of 149 South Dakota districts by per-pupil spending (South Dakota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
323
Total Enrollment
6
Schools
$11,121
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Willow Lake School District 12-3 operates 6 public schools serving 323 students, placing it among the smallest districts in South Dakota. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 elementary, 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 Clark County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $11,121 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower 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 63.0% local, 27.0% state, and 10.0% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 34/100, ranked #89 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.
a 272.5:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 6.2% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 98.4% White, 1.0% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Willow Lake High School - 01, with a diversity index of 8.3/100.
Its largest campus is Willow Lake Elementary - 02, enrolling 153 students (44% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Collins Colony Elementary - 06, at 16 students, a 10x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Willow Lake Elementary - 02 accounts for 44.5% of all Willow Lake School District 12-3 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Willow Lake School District 12-3-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.
Willow Lake School District 12-3 school enrollment varies 9.6× across entities
Willow Lake School District 12-3 school enrollment ranges from 16 students (lowest) to 153 students (highest), a spread of 137 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.
Willow Lake School District 12-3 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 Willow Lake School District 12-3 is typically wider than the Willow Lake School District 12-3-aggregate figure suggests.
Willow Lake School District 12-3 chronic absenteeism rate is 6.2% — 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 Willow Lake School District 12-3'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.