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Gary, Indiana - 10 schools
An equity score of 64/100 ranks Gary Community School Corp #100 of 373 districts in Indiana (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $19,820 per pupil, Gary Community School Corp ranks #8 of 406 Indiana districts by per-pupil spending (Indiana districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
4,076
Total Enrollment
10
Schools
$19,820
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Gary Community School Corp operates 10 public schools serving 4,076 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Indiana. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 elementary, 3 combined, 2 middle, 1 high 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 Lake County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $19,820 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 41 of 406 Indiana districts by per-pupil spending. See how Indiana compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 28.4% local, 50.2% state, and 21.4% 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 64/100, ranked #100 of 373 in Indiana 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 10 schools offering Advanced Placement (5 AP courses district-wide), a 342.7:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 53.3% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 88.0% African American, 6.5% Hispanic or Latino, 1.4% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Bailly Middle School, with a diversity index of 31.0/100.
Its largest campus is West Side Leadership Academy, enrolling 1,232 students (28% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Gary Virtual Academy, at 45 students, a 27x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
West Side Leadership Academy accounts for 28.1% of all Gary Community School Corp student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Gary Community School Corp-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.
Gary Community School Corp school enrollment varies 27× across entities
Gary Community School Corp school enrollment ranges from 45 students (lowest) to 1,232 students (highest), a spread of 1,187 students. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Gary Community School Corp has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 84.6% 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 — including this one — 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.
Gary Community School Corp student-counselor ratio is 343:1 — 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 Gary Community School Corp is typically wider than the Gary Community School Corp-aggregate figure suggests.
Gary Community School Corp chronic absenteeism rate is 53.3% — 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.
How many schools are in Gary Community School Corp?
Gary Community School Corp has 10 schools, including 1 high, 4 elementary, 3 combined, 2 middle. Total enrollment is 4,076 students.
How much does Gary Community School Corp spend per student?
Gary Community School Corp spends $19,820 per student. The district has an equity score of 64/100, ranking #100 in Indiana.
What is the demographic composition of Gary Community School Corp?
Gary Community School Corp students are 88.0% African American, 6.5% Hispanic or Latino, 1.4% White, averaged across 10 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Gary Community School Corp?
Gary Community School Corp has an equity score of 64/100, ranking #100 out of 373 districts in Indiana.