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Emporia, Kansas - 8 schools
An equity score of 59/100 ranks Emporia #92 of 250 districts in Kansas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,415 per pupil, Emporia ranks #107 of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending (Kansas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
4,357
Total Enrollment
8
Schools
$15,415
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Emporia operates 8 public schools serving 4,357 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Kansas. The school portfolio breaks down into 6 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 Lyon County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,415 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending. See how Kansas compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 26.0% local, 64.8% state, and 9.2% federal, a state-revenue-heavy mix that insulates the district somewhat from local property-tax volatility, though it ties funding to state budget cycles. The district's equity score is 59/100, ranked #92 of 250 in Kansas 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 8 schools offering Advanced Placement (4 AP courses district-wide), a 436.5:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 36.9% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 48.2% Hispanic or Latino, 42.7% White, 1.5% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is W a White Elem, with a diversity index of 62.3/100.
Its largest campus is Emporia High, enrolling 1,494 students (35% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Logan Ave Elem, at 208 students, a 7x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Emporia High accounts for 34.3% of all Emporia student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Emporia-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.
Emporia school enrollment varies 7.2× across entities
Emporia school enrollment ranges from 208 students (lowest) to 1,494 students (highest), a spread of 1,286 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.
Emporia has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 52.4% 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.
Emporia student-counselor ratio is 437:1 — 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.
Emporia chronic absenteeism rate is 36.9% — 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.