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Buhler, Kansas - 6 schools
An equity score of 14/100 ranks Buhler #242 of 250 districts in Kansas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $11,029 per pupil, Buhler ranks #277 of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending (Kansas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,564
Total Enrollment
6
Schools
$11,029
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Buhler operates 6 public schools serving 2,564 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Kansas. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 combined, 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 Reno County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $11,029 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the bottom 29 of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending. See how Kansas compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 26.5% local, 66.6% state, and 6.9% 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 14/100, ranked #242 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 (2 AP courses district-wide), a 398.6:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 22.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 83.6% White, 11.0% Hispanic or Latino, 2.4% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Ad Astra Virtual Academy, with a diversity index of 42.2/100.
Its largest campus is Buhler High, enrolling 674 students (27% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Ad Astra Virtual Academy, at 171 students, a 4x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Buhler High accounts for 26.3% of all Buhler student enrollment
That concentration means Buhler-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.
Buhler school enrollment varies 3.9× across entities
Buhler school enrollment ranges from 171 students (lowest) to 674 students (highest), a spread of 503 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.
Buhler student-counselor ratio is 399:1 — 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.
Buhler chronic absenteeism rate is 22.1% — 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 Buhler is typically wider than the Buhler-aggregate figure suggests.