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Grand Rapids, Michigan - 18 schools
An equity score of 31/100 ranks Forest Hills Public Schools #621 of 707 districts in Michigan (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,945 per pupil, Forest Hills Public Schools ranks #378 of 821 Michigan districts by per-pupil spending (Michigan districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
9,201
Total Enrollment
18
Schools
$12,945
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Forest Hills Public Schools operates 18 public schools serving 9,201 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Michigan. The school portfolio breaks down into 6 elementary, 5 combined, 4 high, 3 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 Kent County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,945 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 821 Michigan districts by per-pupil spending. See how Michigan compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 42.7% local, 52.0% state, and 5.4% 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 31/100, ranked #621 of 707 in Michigan 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 3 of 18 schools offering Advanced Placement (61 AP courses district-wide), a 526.2:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 20.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 74.6% White, 8.8% Asian, 7.0% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Forest Hills Transition Center, with a diversity index of 65.6/100.
Its largest campus is Northern High School, enrolling 1,088 students (12% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Forest Hills Transition Center, at 8 students, a 136x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Forest Hills Public Schools school enrollment varies 136× across entities
Forest Hills Public Schools school enrollment ranges from 8 students (lowest) to 1,088 students (highest), a spread of 1,080 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.
Forest Hills Public Schools student-counselor ratio is 526:1 — 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.
Forest Hills Public Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 20.1% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
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 Variation between sub-units within Forest Hills Public Schools is typically wider than the Forest Hills Public Schools-aggregate figure suggests.