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Carthage, Texas - 5 schools
An equity score of 37/100 ranks Carthage Isd #733 of 1044 districts in Texas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,901 per pupil, Carthage Isd ranks #604 of 1202 Texas districts by per-pupil spending (Texas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,621
Total Enrollment
5
Schools
$12,901
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Carthage Isd operates 5 public schools serving 2,621 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Texas. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 1 high, 1 combined, 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 Panola County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,901 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 1202 Texas districts by per-pupil spending. See how Texas compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 71.2% local, 6.3% state, and 22.5% 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 37/100, ranked #733 of 1044 in Texas 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 5 schools offering Advanced Placement (5 AP courses district-wide), a 386.9:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 29.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 56.1% White, 20.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.7% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Libby El, with a diversity index of 62.0/100.
Its largest campus is Carthage H S, enrolling 785 students (30% of the district's total enrollment).
Carthage H S accounts for 29.8% of all Carthage Isd student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Carthage Isd-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.
Carthage Isd school enrollment varies 2.1× across entities
Carthage Isd school enrollment ranges from 375 students (lowest) to 785 students (highest), a spread of 410 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.
Carthage Isd has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 55.2% 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.
Carthage Isd student-counselor ratio is 387:1 — 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.
Carthage Isd chronic absenteeism rate is 29.1% — 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 Carthage Isd is typically wider than the Carthage Isd-aggregate figure suggests.