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Darien, Illinois - 3 schools
An equity score of 53/100 ranks Darien Sd 61 #64 of 763 districts in Illinois (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $20,576 per pupil, Darien Sd 61 ranks #158 of 848 Illinois districts by per-pupil spending (Illinois districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,257
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$20,576
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Darien Sd 61 operates 3 public schools serving 1,257 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Illinois. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 combined, 1 middle, 1 elementary 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 Dupage County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $20,576 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 848 Illinois districts by per-pupil spending. See how Illinois compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 56.8% local, 36.9% state, and 6.2% 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 53/100, ranked #64 of 763 in Illinois against a state average of 38, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 203.5:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 22.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 56.5% White, 21.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Mark Delay School, with a diversity index of 62.9/100.
Its largest campus is Mark Delay School, enrolling 453 students (37% of the district's total enrollment).
Mark Delay School accounts for 36.0% of all Darien Sd 61 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Darien Sd 61-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.
Darien Sd 61 student-counselor ratio is 204:1 — 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.
Darien Sd 61 chronic absenteeism rate is 22.1% — 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 Darien Sd 61 is typically wider than the Darien Sd 61-aggregate figure suggests.