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Abilene, Kansas - 6 schools
An equity score of 28/100 ranks Abilene #213 of 250 districts in Kansas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,442 per pupil, Abilene ranks #245 of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending (Kansas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,515
Total Enrollment
6
Schools
$12,442
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Abilene operates 6 public schools serving 1,515 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Kansas. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 combined, 2 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Dickinson County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,442 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending. See how Kansas compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 21.2% local, 71.1% state, and 7.7% federal, a state-revenue-heavy mix that insulates the district somewhat from local property-tax volatility, though it ties funding to state budget cycles. The district's equity score is 28/100, ranked #213 of 250 in Kansas against a state average of 50, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 6 schools offering Advanced Placement (3 AP courses district-wide), a 246.1:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 23.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 84.5% White, 10.6% Hispanic or Latino, 0.4% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Abilene Virtual School, with a diversity index of 34.3/100.
Its largest campus is Abilene High School, enrolling 443 students (30% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Abilene Virtual School, at 24 students, a 18x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Abilene High School accounts for 29.2% of all Abilene student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Abilene-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: high. A single dominant campus often anchors a district's program offerings and staffing patterns; the share helps explain why district-wide averages may not reflect the typical neighbourhood-school experience. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Abilene school enrollment varies 18× across entities
Abilene school enrollment ranges from 24 students (lowest) to 443 students (highest), a spread of 419 students. That spread reflects typical mixed-portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Abilene student-counselor ratio is 246:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Abilene chronic absenteeism rate is 23.4% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Variation between sub-units within Abilene is typically wider than the Abilene-aggregate figure suggests.