Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal
records, no number is typed in by an editor. District totals are aggregated directly from the schools reporting under this district in the source records. See our
editorial standards & corrections policy, the
methodology behind these numbers, or
report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.
Bedford, Massachusetts - 4 schools
An equity score of 41/100 ranks Bedford #149 of 362 districts in Massachusetts (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $23,058 per pupil, Bedford ranks #146 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending (Massachusetts districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,575
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$23,058
Per-Pupil Spending
High, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Bedford operates 4 public schools serving 2,575 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Massachusetts. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 high, 1 middle, 1 elementary, 1 combined 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 Middlesex County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $23,058 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending. See how Massachusetts compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 71.9% local, 23.2% state, and 5.0% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 41/100, ranked #149 of 362 in Massachusetts against a state average of 38, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 4 schools offering Advanced Placement (13 AP courses district-wide), a 110:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 12.3% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 55.3% White, 21.6% Asian, 7.5% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Lt Eleazer Davis, with a diversity index of 66.0/100.
Its largest campus is Bedford High, enrolling 868 students (35% of the district's total enrollment).
Bedford High accounts for 33.7% of all Bedford student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Bedford-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.
Bedford student-counselor ratio is 110:1 — 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.
Bedford chronic absenteeism rate is 12.3% — low (typically associated with lower-than-average attendance disruption; districts in this range often have attendance interventions, robust transportation, or smaller catchments that reduce barriers)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.