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Carson City, Michigan - 4 schools
An equity score of 22/100 ranks Carson City-Crystal Area Schools #693 of 707 districts in Michigan (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $11,086 per pupil, Carson City-Crystal Area Schools ranks #700 of 821 Michigan districts by per-pupil spending (Michigan districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
775
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$11,086
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Carson City-Crystal Area Schools operates 4 public schools serving 775 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Michigan. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 combined, 1 elementary, 1 high 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 Montcalm County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $11,086 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 821 Michigan districts by per-pupil spending. See how Michigan compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 27.6% local, 52.1% state, and 20.3% 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 22/100, ranked #693 of 707 in Michigan 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 4 schools offering Advanced Placement (2 AP courses district-wide), a 224.5:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 54.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 92.0% White, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 0.7% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Carson Citycrystal High School, with a diversity index of 19.8/100.
Carson Citycrystal Upper Elementarymiddle School accounts for 33.8% of all Carson City-Crystal Area Schools student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Carson City-Crystal Area Schools-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: elementary. 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.
Carson City-Crystal Area Schools school enrollment varies 5.1× across entities
Carson City-Crystal Area Schools school enrollment ranges from 51 students (lowest) to 262 students (highest), a spread of 211 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.
Carson City-Crystal Area Schools has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 57.3% 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.
Carson City-Crystal Area Schools student-counselor ratio is 225:1 — 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.
Carson City-Crystal Area Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 54.1% — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 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.
Comparisons are relative to Carson City-Crystal Area Schools's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in Michigan
Top districts in the same state, compare side-by-side for enrollment, spending, and demographics.