Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal
records, no number is typed in by an editor. District totals are aggregated directly from the schools reporting under this district in the source records. See our
editorial standards & corrections policy, the
methodology behind these numbers, or
report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.
Gurnee, Illinois - 4 schools
An equity score of 47/100 ranks Gurnee Sd 56 #163 of 763 districts in Illinois (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $19,025 per pupil, Gurnee Sd 56 ranks #211 of 848 Illinois districts by per-pupil spending (Illinois districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,890
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$19,025
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Gurnee Sd 56 operates 4 public schools serving 1,890 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Illinois. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 1 middle, 1 combined 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 Lake County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $19,025 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 848 Illinois districts by per-pupil spending. See how Illinois compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 65.3% local, 27.8% state, and 6.9% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 47/100, ranked #163 of 763 in Illinois against a state average of 38, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
and 33.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 49.6% Hispanic or Latino, 20.8% African American, 18.2% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Spaulding Elementary School, with a diversity index of 69.1/100.
Its largest campus is River Trail School, enrolling 471 students (26% of the district's total enrollment).
River Trail School accounts for 24.9% of all Gurnee Sd 56 student enrollment
That concentration means Gurnee Sd 56-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: elementary. 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.
Gurnee Sd 56 chronic absenteeism rate is 33.8% — 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.