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.
Lake Charles, Louisiana - 58 schools
An equity score of 65/100 ranks Calcasieu Parish #41 of 175 districts in Louisiana (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $20,543 per pupil, Calcasieu Parish ranks #20 of 188 Louisiana districts by per-pupil spending (Louisiana districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
Calcasieu Parish operates 58 public schools serving 29,523 students, placing it among the larger districts in Louisiana. The school portfolio breaks down into 33 combined, 11 middle, 8 high, 6 elementary schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage across a sizeable portfolio before they move, rent, or enrol. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Calcasieu Parish.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $20,543 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 188 Louisiana districts by per-pupil spending. See how Louisiana compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 54.6% local, 27.7% state, and 17.7% 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 65/100, ranked #41 of 175 in Louisiana against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 10 of 58 schools offering Advanced Placement (85 AP courses district-wide), a 363.2:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 12.3% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 50.4% White, 36.9% African American, 7.3% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is A. a. Nelson Elementary School, with a diversity index of 69.0/100.
Its largest campus is Sulphur High School, enrolling 1,911 students (7% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Jake Drost School for Exceptional Children, at 19 students, a 101x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Calcasieu Parish school enrollment ranges from 19 students (lowest) to 1,911 students (highest), a spread of 1,892 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data NCES Common Core of Data
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.
Source: ESSA Title I Part A; ED EDFacts file system ESSA Title I Part A; ED EDFacts file system
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.
Source: NCES Civil Rights Data Collection NCES Civil Rights Data Collection
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.
Source: NCES Civil Rights Data Collection 2021-22 NCES Civil Rights Data Collection 2021-22
This district has moderate funding equity. There may be room to improve funding diversity or resource allocation.
Average demographic composition across 58 schools in Calcasieu Parish.
Source: NCES CCD School Membership 2024-25.
Average Simpson diversity index across Calcasieu Parish's schools, below the Louisiana average of 43.9.
Source: NCES Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22.
The Louisiana districts closest to this one in total enrollment.
| District | Enrollment | Spending | Funding Mix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Livingston Parish | Similar size | Lower spending | Less locally funded |
| Lafayette Parish | Similar size | Lower spending | Similar funding mix |
| Ascension Parish | Similar size | Lower spending | Similar funding mix |
| Bossier Parish | Similar size | Lower spending | Less locally funded |
| Rapides Parish | Similar size | Lower spending | Less locally funded |
Comparisons are relative to Calcasieu Parish's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Top districts in the same state, compare side-by-side for enrollment, spending, and demographics.
See how this district compares to others in enrollment, spending, demographics, and academic resources.
Compare vs Jefferson Parish →Calcasieu Parish has 58 schools, including 8 high, 11 middle, 33 combined, 6 elementary. Total enrollment is 29,523 students.
Calcasieu Parish spends $20,543 per student. The district has an equity score of 65/100, ranking #41 in Louisiana.
Calcasieu Parish students are 50.4% White, 36.9% African American, 7.3% Hispanic or Latino, 1.2% Asian, averaged across 58 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
Calcasieu Parish has an equity score of 65/100, ranking #41 out of 175 districts in Louisiana.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.