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Owensboro, Kentucky - 23 schools
An equity score of 37/100 ranks Daviess County #114 of 171 districts in Kentucky (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,546 per pupil, Daviess County ranks #105 of 171 Kentucky districts by per-pupil spending (Kentucky districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
11,164
Total Enrollment
23
Schools
$12,546
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Daviess County operates 23 public schools serving 11,164 students, placing it in the mid-size range in Kentucky. The school portfolio breaks down into 15 combined, 4 high, 3 middle, 1 elementary schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage 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 Daviess County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,546 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 171 Kentucky districts by per-pupil spending. See how Kentucky compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 35.1% local, 47.6% state, and 17.3% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one. The district's equity score is 37/100, ranked #114 of 171 in Kentucky 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 2 of 23 schools offering Advanced Placement (31 AP courses district-wide), a 395.9:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 13.3% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 74.9% White, 8.9% Hispanic or Latino, 5.2% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is F T Burns Elementary School, with a diversity index of 63.3/100.
Its largest campus is Daviess County High School, enrolling 1,750 students (16% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Owensboro Day Treatment, at 14 students, a 125x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Daviess County High School accounts for 15.7% of all Daviess County student enrollment
That concentration means Daviess County-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.
Daviess County school enrollment varies 125× across entities
Daviess County school enrollment ranges from 14 students (lowest) to 1,750 students (highest), a spread of 1,736 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Daviess County has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 53.8% 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.
Daviess County student-counselor ratio is 396:1 — 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.
Daviess County chronic absenteeism rate is 13.3% — 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.
Daviess County has 23 schools, including 4 high, 3 middle, 15 combined, 1 elementary. Total enrollment is 11,164 students.
How much does Daviess County spend per student?
Daviess County spends $12,546 per student. The district has an equity score of 37/100, ranking #114 in Kentucky.
What is the demographic composition of Daviess County?
Daviess County students are 74.9% White, 8.9% Hispanic or Latino, 5.2% African American, 3.8% Asian, averaged across 23 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Daviess County?
Daviess County has an equity score of 37/100, ranking #114 out of 171 districts in Kentucky.