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Belchertown, Massachusetts - 5 schools
An equity score of 32/100 ranks Belchertown #242 of 362 districts in Massachusetts (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $17,888 per pupil, Belchertown ranks #337 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending (Massachusetts districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,136
Total Enrollment
5
Schools
$17,888
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Belchertown operates 5 public schools serving 2,136 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Massachusetts. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle, 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 Hampshire County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $17,888 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending. See how Massachusetts compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 46.7% local, 47.9% state, and 5.5% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one. The district's equity score is 32/100, ranked #242 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 5 schools offering Advanced Placement (6 AP courses district-wide), a 204:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 23.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 82.5% White, 9.8% Hispanic or Latino, 1.8% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Cold Spring, with a diversity index of 34.7/100.
Its largest campus is Belchertown High, enrolling 573 students (28% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Cold Spring, at 188 students, a 3x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Belchertown High accounts for 26.8% of all Belchertown student enrollment
That concentration means Belchertown-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.
Belchertown school enrollment varies 3.0× across entities
Belchertown school enrollment ranges from 188 students (lowest) to 573 students (highest), a spread of 385 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.
Belchertown student-counselor ratio is 204:1 — 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.
Belchertown chronic absenteeism rate is 23.8% — 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 Belchertown is typically wider than the Belchertown-aggregate figure suggests.