Ruder Elementary

Ruder Elementary, a sizable elementary campus in Columbia Falls, Montana, one of the schools within Columbia Falls Elem, educates 487 students, covering grades pre-K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 167 students per school, that is 192% bigger than typical.

Columbia Falls Elem runs 3 schools in total, collectively educating 1,505 students. Ruder Elementary is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Ruder Elementary logs that 85% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Other groups include 9% multiracial, 5% Hispanic.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.3:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 11.9:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Roughly 98% of students at Ruder Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is north of Flathead County's rate of about 75%.

Zooming out to the county, Flathead County reports that median household income runs about $73,925, roughly 37% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Flathead County's 48 public schools (combined enrollment of about 14,957 students), Ruder Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Columbia Falls High Schl, around 0.4 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 3 other public schools cluster around Ruder Elementary.

Ruder Elementary operates from a town-based location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count expanded 6%: 458 students in 2018 compared to 487 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share decreased from 90% to 85%. Class-load math has tightened: from 16.7:1 in 2018 to 14.3:1 in 2025.

On this page, the feed for Ruder Elementary typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.