Tea Area Middle School - 02

As a well-populated middle school in Tea, South Dakota, Tea Area Middle School - 02 enrolls 583 students from grades 6 through 8, operated by Tea Area School District 41-5. Enrollment runs roughly 212% above the state mean of about 187.

Tea Area School District 41-5 comprises 5 schools with combined enrollment of 2,509 students; Tea Area Middle School - 02 is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Tea Area Middle School - 02 lists that the student body is overwhelmingly White (80%). Beyond that, the school reports 6% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, 5% Black, 2% Native American. The wider county runs roughly 90% White, putting the school's mix visibly less White than the area baseline.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Tea Area Middle School - 02 has 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 19.1:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.4:1, putting Tea Area Middle School - 02 higher than the state norm the norm. Around 22% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Tea Area Middle School - 02 performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 54.1%, the actual is 51.9%, a residual of -2.2 points.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for Lincoln County put the typical household earns roughly $99,166 per year, roughly 44% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 4%. In all, Lincoln County runs 26 public schools (combined enrollment of about 10,530 students), of which Tea Area Middle School - 02 is one.

The closest other public school is Tea Area High School - 03, roughly 0.1 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Tea Area Middle School - 02 comes 6th of 7 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 61.1%.

The campus sits in a town-based setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count climbed 9%: 533 students in 2018 compared to 583 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 88% to 80% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 16.7:1 in 2018 to 19.1:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the feed for Tea Area Middle School - 02 typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.