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Caldwell, Kansas - 3 schools
An equity score of 79/100 ranks Caldwell #15 of 250 districts in Kansas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,752 per pupil, Caldwell ranks #70 of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending (Kansas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
261
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$16,752
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Caldwell operates 3 public schools serving 261 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Kansas. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 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 Sumner County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,752 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending. See how Kansas compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 19.6% local, 75.1% state, and 5.3% 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 79/100, ranked #15 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 245:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 26.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 85.9% White, 8.6% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Caldwell Secondary School, with a diversity index of 39.0/100.
Its largest campus is Caldwell Elem, enrolling 136 students (55% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Caldwell Secondary School-Chisholm Trail Elea, at 3 students, a 45x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Caldwell Elem accounts for 52.1% of all Caldwell student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Caldwell a distant remainder — means Caldwell-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.
Caldwell school enrollment varies 45× across entities
Caldwell school enrollment ranges from 3 students (lowest) to 136 students (highest), a spread of 133 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme enrollment heterogeneity, the district operates both small specialty programs and large comprehensive campuses inside a single budgeting unit. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Caldwell has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 52.8% 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.
Caldwell student-counselor ratio is 245:1 — 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.
Caldwell chronic absenteeism rate is 26.4% — 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 Caldwell is typically wider than the Caldwell-aggregate figure suggests.