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Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - 12 schools
An equity score of 53/100 ranks Harrisburg City Sd #272 of 648 districts in Pennsylvania (state average 49). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,794 per pupil, Harrisburg City Sd ranks #380 of 671 Pennsylvania districts by per-pupil spending (Pennsylvania districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
6,404
Total Enrollment
12
Schools
$16,794
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Harrisburg City Sd operates 12 public schools serving 6,404 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Pennsylvania. The school portfolio breaks down into 5 elementary, 3 combined, 2 high, 2 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 Dauphin County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,794 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 671 Pennsylvania districts by per-pupil spending. See how Pennsylvania compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 32.6% local, 50.1% state, and 17.3% 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 53/100, ranked #272 of 648 in Pennsylvania against a state average of 49, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 2 of 12 schools offering Advanced Placement (11 AP courses district-wide), a 427:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 55.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 46.0% Hispanic or Latino, 44.7% African American, 2.7% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Melrose Sch, with a diversity index of 64.1/100.
Its largest campus is Harrisburg Hs, enrolling 1,343 students (22% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Marshall Academy, at 87 students, a 15x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Harrisburg Hs accounts for 21.0% of all Harrisburg City Sd student enrollment
That concentration means Harrisburg City Sd-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.
Harrisburg City Sd school enrollment varies 15× across entities
Harrisburg City Sd school enrollment ranges from 87 students (lowest) to 1,343 students (highest), a spread of 1,256 students. That spread reflects typical mixed-portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Harrisburg City Sd has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 99.9% 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). Eligibility here is a supermajority of the population — well past the 75% concentration-grant threshold that unlocks extra funding 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.
Harrisburg City Sd student-counselor ratio is 427:1 — 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.
Harrisburg City Sd chronic absenteeism rate is 55.6% — 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.
Harrisburg City Sd has 12 schools, including 2 high, 2 middle, 3 combined, 5 elementary. Total enrollment is 6,404 students.
How much does Harrisburg City Sd spend per student?
Harrisburg City Sd spends $16,794 per student. The district has an equity score of 53/100, ranking #272 in Pennsylvania.
What is the demographic composition of Harrisburg City Sd?
Harrisburg City Sd students are 46.0% Hispanic or Latino, 44.7% African American, 2.7% White, 1.8% Asian, averaged across 12 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Harrisburg City Sd?
Harrisburg City Sd has an equity score of 53/100, ranking #272 out of 648 districts in Pennsylvania.