9 public K-12 schools in Kearney from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
9 public schools ranked by quality score. NCES CCD 2024-25 data.
The highest-ranked of Kearney's 9 public schools is Kearney High, scoring 41/100, against a city average of 49.8/100. Computed live across every Kearney campus reporting to NCES.
How the Kearney Public-School Landscape Breaks Down
Kearney, MO enrolls 3,424 students across 9 public schools reporting to the National Center for Education Statistics. The average student-teacher ratio across the city is 12.6:1, and the composite quality score, derived from student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted-program availability, and CRDC attendance data, averages 49.8/100. Schools must report at least five campuses in a city to appear in this listing, which is why very small towns may redirect to the broader county or state view.
The most-resourced campus in Kearney on this index is Kearney High, at 41/100 on the Resource Investment Index with 814 enrolled students. What the index does and doesn't measure; click any school below for its full component breakdown.
Kearney spans 1 district, each filing its own NCES F-33 return, per-pupil spending can vary between neighbouring campuses. Sort the table below by enrollment, level, or district; click any school for its full profile.
Kearney High accounts for 23.8% of all Kearney public-school enrollment
That concentration means Kearney-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade level: High. A dominant campus often anchors a city's program landscape and absorbs a disproportionate share of district capital and staffing decisions. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Kearney school enrollment varies 19× across entities
Kearney school enrollment ranges from 44 students (lowest) to 814 students (highest), a spread of 770 students. That spread reflects typical urban portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. Per-school staffing, programme depth, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same city based on enrollment shape, a 200-student magnet runs a different operational model than a 2,000-student comprehensive high school.
Kearney operates only 1 school district — one of the single most consolidated governance structures in the country
Most Kearney school districts are a single unified district covering the whole city, a structural feature that simplifies inter-school comparison but concentrates policy authority, and the count here is near the floor observed nationally. Consolidation produces narrower variance because resources pool across a large population, but it can also mask intra-school district inequities — sub-school district differences within a single school district are not visible at this aggregation level. Consolidated systems typically rely more heavily on top-down funding formulas than on local revenue variability.
Kearney student-teacher ratio is 12.6:1 — 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.
Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Kearney
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.
Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. Quality scores based on student-teacher ratio,
counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance. Schools must have 5+ in the city to be listed.
Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD). Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.
Read our methodology, which explains how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
