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Cheshire, Connecticut - 7 schools
An equity score of 28/100 ranks Cheshire School District #157 of 174 districts in Connecticut (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $22,316 per pupil, Cheshire School District ranks #119 of 191 Connecticut districts by per-pupil spending (Connecticut districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
4,208
Total Enrollment
7
Schools
$22,316
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Cheshire School District operates 7 public schools serving 4,208 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Connecticut. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle, 1 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 Naugatuck Valley Planning Region.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $22,316 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 191 Connecticut districts by per-pupil spending. See how Connecticut compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 72.5% local, 23.7% state, and 3.8% 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 28/100, ranked #157 of 174 in Connecticut 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 7 schools offering Advanced Placement (35 AP courses district-wide), a 373.4:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 8.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 71.6% White, 10.4% Hispanic or Latino, 10.0% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Darcey School, with a diversity index of 51.8/100.
Its largest campus is Cheshire High School, enrolling 1,208 students (29% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Darcey School, at 159 students, a 8x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Cheshire High School accounts for 28.5% of all Cheshire School District student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Cheshire School District-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.
Cheshire School District school enrollment varies 7.6× across entities
Cheshire School District school enrollment ranges from 159 students (lowest) to 1,208 students (highest), a spread of 1,049 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.
Cheshire School District student-counselor ratio is 373:1 — 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.
Cheshire School District chronic absenteeism rate is 8.5% — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 below typical often correlate with unusually small scale or population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se — worth checking whether the underlying denominator is itself an outlier.
Cheshire School District has 7 schools, including 1 high, 4 elementary, 1 middle, 1 combined. Total enrollment is 4,208 students.
How much does Cheshire School District spend per student?
Cheshire School District spends $22,316 per student. The district has an equity score of 28/100, ranking #157 in Connecticut.
What is the demographic composition of Cheshire School District?
Cheshire School District students are 71.6% White, 10.4% Hispanic or Latino, 10.0% Asian, 3.4% African American, averaged across 7 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Cheshire School District?
Cheshire School District has an equity score of 28/100, ranking #157 out of 174 districts in Connecticut.