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Barnwell, South Carolina - 4 schools
An equity score of 65/100 ranks Barnwell 45 #21 of 73 districts in South Carolina (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $14,593 per pupil, Barnwell 45 ranks #23 of 74 South Carolina districts by per-pupil spending (South Carolina districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,974
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$14,593
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Barnwell 45 operates 4 public schools serving 1,974 students, placing it among the smallest districts in South Carolina. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 combined, 1 high, 1 elementary, 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 Barnwell County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $14,593 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 74 South Carolina districts by per-pupil spending. See how South Carolina compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 22.8% local, 50.3% state, and 26.9% 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 65/100, ranked #21 of 73 in South Carolina against a state average of 51, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 4 schools offering Advanced Placement (1 AP courses district-wide), a 429.6:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 26.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 44.5% African American, 44.4% White, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Guinyard-Butler Middle, with a diversity index of 62.9/100.
Its largest campus is Barnwell Primary, enrolling 680 students (34% of the district's total enrollment).
Barnwell Primary accounts for 34.1% of all Barnwell 45 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Barnwell 45-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: combined. 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.
Barnwell 45 school enrollment varies 2.0× across entities
Barnwell 45 school enrollment ranges from 335 students (lowest) to 680 students (highest), a spread of 345 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous campus portfolio, most districts have a wider mix of school sizes. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Barnwell 45 has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 100.0% of the population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch
free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is the federal threshold for Title I funding allocations, established under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015). Eligibility here is a supermajority of the population — well past the 75% concentration-grant threshold that unlocks extra funding on top of the basic Title I formula. Regions with eligibility this high typically draw a substantially larger federal funding share relative to their local tax base, which can either offset or reinforce existing gaps depending on allocation policy.
Barnwell 45 student-counselor ratio is 430:1 — high (typically associated with staffing constraints that limit per-student counselor time; CRDC data shows higher ratios cluster in larger urban systems)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Barnwell 45 chronic absenteeism rate is 26.1% — 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 Barnwell 45 is typically wider than the Barnwell 45-aggregate figure suggests.