NCES CCD 2024-25 14 schools KS

Best-Resourced Schools in Salina, KS

Compiled from official source data by .

14 public K-12 schools in Salina from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
14
Schools
6,678
Students
44.1/100
Avg Resource Index
12.7:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Salina has more public-school enrollment than 67% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Salina sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

10 of Salina's 14 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 34-point gap between Salina Virtual Innovation Academy and Schilling Elem shows the range hidden by Salina's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 33%
School count
Top 25%
Resource Index average
66th percentile
Teacher staffing
82nd percentile

Salina High South accounts for 15.7% of all Salina public-school enrollment

That concentration means Salina-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Salina school enrollment varies 21× across entities

Salina school enrollment ranges from 50 students (lowest) to 1,046 students (highest), a spread of 996 students. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Salina reports 50.4% free-lunch eligibility

The reported share clears the 50% majority mark. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Salina student-teacher ratio is 12.7:1 — low (typically associated with smaller schools or per-school staffing investment that often correlates with stronger per-student supports)

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Salina Virtual Innovation Academy 65
2. Coronado Elem 50
3. Stewart Elem 47
4. Meadowlark Ridge Elem 46
5. Salina South Middle 45
6. Lakewood Middle School 45
7. Ell-Saline Elementary 45
8. Salina High Central 44
9. Oakdale Elem 44
10. Salina High South 43
11. Cottonwood Elementary School 41
12. Sunset Elem 37
13. Heusner Elem 34
14. Schilling Elem 31

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Salina

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Cottonwood Elementary School 64.9/100
  2. 2 Sunset Elem 64.6/100
  3. 3 Oakdale Elem 63.6/100
  4. 4 Schilling Elem 62.6/100
  5. 5 Salina High South 61.6/100

What do families ask about schools in Salina?

Which Salina school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Salina Virtual Innovation Academy has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Salina schools in this federal-data comparison at 65/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Salina, KS? ▼

Salina has 14 public schools with a total enrollment of 6,678 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 12.7:1.

Other Cities in Kansas

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Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Kansas →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.