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Baxter Springs, Kansas - 4 schools
An equity score of 63/100 ranks Baxter Springs #68 of 250 districts in Kansas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $13,965 per pupil, Baxter Springs ranks #179 of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending (Kansas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
893
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$13,965
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Baxter Springs operates 4 public schools serving 893 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Kansas. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 combined, 1 elementary 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 Cherokee County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $13,965 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 13.1% local, 81.5% state, and 5.4% 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 63/100, ranked #68 of 250 in Kansas against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 156.1:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 21.3% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 73.9% White, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 1.1% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Lincoln Elem, with a diversity index of 48.5/100.
Its largest campus is Baxter Springs High, enrolling 361 students (42% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Usd 508 Eacademy, at 36 students, a 10x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Baxter Springs High accounts for 40.4% of all Baxter Springs student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Baxter Springs-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.
Baxter Springs school enrollment varies 10× across entities
Baxter Springs school enrollment ranges from 36 students (lowest) to 361 students (highest), a spread of 325 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.
Baxter Springs has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 55.7% 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). Areas above 75% eligibility receive concentration grants 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.
Baxter Springs student-counselor ratio is 156:1 — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 Values this far below typical often correlate with unusually small scale or population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se — worth checking whether the underlying denominator is itself an outlier.
Baxter Springs chronic absenteeism rate is 21.3% — 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 Baxter Springs is typically wider than the Baxter Springs-aggregate figure suggests.