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Carmel, Indiana - 15 schools
An equity score of 32/100 ranks Carmel Clay Schools #298 of 373 districts in Indiana (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,522 per pupil, Carmel Clay Schools ranks #134 of 406 Indiana districts by per-pupil spending (Indiana districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
16,072
Total Enrollment
15
Schools
$12,522
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Carmel Clay Schools operates 15 public schools serving 16,072 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Indiana. The school portfolio breaks down into 6 elementary, 5 combined, 3 middle, 1 high schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly 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 Hamilton County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,522 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 406 Indiana districts by per-pupil spending. See how Indiana compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 40.8% local, 53.8% state, and 5.5% 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 32/100, ranked #298 of 373 in Indiana 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 15 schools offering Advanced Placement (37 AP courses district-wide), a 571.2:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 11.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 66.5% White, 17.2% Asian, 7.4% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Creekside Middle School, with a diversity index of 59.6/100.
Its largest campus is Carmel High School, enrolling 5,239 students (32% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Towne Meadow Elementary School, at 527 students, a 10x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Carmel High School accounts for 32.4% of all Carmel Clay Schools student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Carmel Clay Schools-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.
Carmel Clay Schools school enrollment varies 9.9× across entities
Carmel Clay Schools school enrollment ranges from 527 students (lowest) to 5,239 students (highest), a spread of 4,712 students. That spread reflects typical mixed-portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Carmel Clay Schools student-counselor ratio is 571:1 — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 above typical often signal acute resource constraints or a structurally different scale than most peers — worth reading alongside the underlying counts, not the ratio alone.
Carmel Clay Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 11.0% — 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.