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Fordland, Missouri - 3 schools
An equity score of 50/100 ranks Fordland R-Iii #218 of 432 districts in Missouri (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,394 per pupil, Fordland R-Iii ranks #242 of 549 Missouri districts by per-pupil spending (Missouri districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
610
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$12,394
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Fordland R-Iii operates 3 public schools serving 610 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Missouri. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 combined, 1 high, 1 middle 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 Webster County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,394 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 549 Missouri districts by per-pupil spending. See how Missouri compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 40.1% local, 29.8% state, and 30.1% 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 50/100, ranked #218 of 432 in Missouri against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 3 schools offering Advanced Placement (5 AP courses district-wide), a 333.3:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 12.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 90.7% White, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Fordland Elem., with a diversity index of 19.8/100.
Its largest campus is Fordland Elem., enrolling 300 students (46% of the district's total enrollment).
Fordland Elem. accounts for 46.2% of all Fordland R-Iii student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Fordland R-Iii a distant remainder — means Fordland R-Iii-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.
Fordland R-Iii school enrollment varies 2.0× across entities
Fordland R-Iii school enrollment ranges from 150 students (lowest) to 300 students (highest), a spread of 150 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.
Fordland R-Iii student-counselor ratio is 333:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
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 Variation between sub-units within Fordland R-Iii is typically wider than the Fordland R-Iii-aggregate figure suggests.
Fordland R-Iii chronic absenteeism rate is 12.1% — 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.