An equity score of 77/100 ranks Dorchester 04 #6 of 74 districts in South Carolina (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $19,434 per pupil, Dorchester 04 ranks #9 of 75 South Carolina districts by per-pupil spending (South Carolina districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,027
Total Enrollment
6
Schools
$19,434
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Dorchester 04 operates 6 public schools serving 2,027 students, placing it among the smallest districts in South Carolina. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 combined, 2 middle, 1 high 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 Dorchester County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $19,434 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 75 South Carolina districts by per-pupil spending. See how South Carolina compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 38.1% local, 39.1% state, and 22.8% 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 77/100, ranked #6 of 74 in South Carolina against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 6 schools offering Advanced Placement (2 AP courses district-wide), a 229.4:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 42.2% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 46.5% African American, 34.4% White, 8.4% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Clay Hill Elementary, with a diversity index of 70.6/100.
Its largest campus is Woodland High, enrolling 680 students (32% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Harleyville-Ridgeville Middle, at 169 students, a 4x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Woodland High accounts for 32.3% of all Dorchester 04 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Dorchester 04-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade band: high. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how the district allocates programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.
Dorchester 04 school enrollment varies 4.0× across entities
Dorchester 04 school enrollment ranges from 169 students (lowest) to 680 students (highest), a spread of 511 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.
The reported share is above 87.5%, so economic need is widespread across the measured student population. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.
Dorchester 04 student-counselor ratio is 229:1 — 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.
Dorchester 04 chronic absenteeism rate is 42.2% — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 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.