Heartland Girls Ranch

Heartland Girls Ranch, a rural-scale secondary school in BENSON, Minnesota, one of the schools within BENSON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT, serves 22 students, covering grades 7 through 12. That puts it 94% smaller than the typical public school in Minnesota, which averages around 371 students.

Across the 4 schools in BENSON PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT (760 students total), Heartland Girls Ranch accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, Heartland Girls Ranch logs that 64% of the student body identifies as White; the rest comes out to 14% Black, 14% multiracial, 5% Hispanic, 5% Native American. By comparison, Swift County as a whole is about 88% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

On the resource side, The school lists 3 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 7.8:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 16.3:1 average. Around 86% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is higher than Swift County's rate of about 41%.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Swift County) shows that median household earnings sit near $60,412, 24% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. Across Swift County's 8 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,767 students), Heartland Girls Ranch is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: BENSON AREA LEARNING CENTER, around 0.7 miles off. Within five miles, there are 3 other public schools.

Heartland Girls Ranch operates from a countryside location.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Heartland Girls Ranch has ticked up 10%, going from 20 students in 2018 to 22 in 2025. Over the same period, the Asian share contracted from 5% to 0%. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 6.7:1 in 2018 to 7.8:1 today.

On this page, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.