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Arcadia, Florida - 9 schools
An equity score of 68/100 ranks Desoto #12 of 67 districts in Florida (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,175 per pupil, Desoto ranks #14 of 67 Florida districts by per-pupil spending (Florida districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
4,582
Total Enrollment
9
Schools
$12,175
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Desoto operates 9 public schools serving 4,582 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Florida. The school portfolio breaks down into 7 combined, 1 high, 1 middle schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly 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 Desoto County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,175 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 67 Florida districts by per-pupil spending. See how Florida compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 24.4% local, 47.5% state, and 28.1% 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 68/100, ranked #12 of 67 in Florida against a state average of 51, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 9 schools offering Advanced Placement (6 AP courses district-wide), a 665.8:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 40.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 51.0% Hispanic or Latino, 22.7% White, 21.2% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Desoto Secondary School, with a diversity index of 64.7/100.
Its largest campus is Desoto County High School, enrolling 1,215 students (29% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Teen Paren Pk Child Care Program, at 3 students, a 405x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Desoto County High School accounts for 26.5% of all Desoto student enrollment
That concentration means Desoto-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.
Desoto school enrollment varies 405× across entities
Desoto school enrollment ranges from 3 students (lowest) to 1,215 students (highest), a spread of 1,212 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.
Desoto has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 73.7% 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). Eligibility here is approaching the 75% concentration-grant threshold; it does not yet unlock the extra funding tier but sits meaningfully above the baseline 50% majority mark. 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.
Desoto student-counselor ratio is 666:1 — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 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.
Desoto chronic absenteeism rate is 40.6% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.