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Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania - 4 schools
An equity score of 60/100 ranks Highlands Sd #208 of 648 districts in Pennsylvania (state average 49). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $17,029 per pupil, Highlands Sd ranks #362 of 671 Pennsylvania districts by per-pupil spending (Pennsylvania districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,218
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$17,029
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Highlands Sd operates 4 public schools serving 2,218 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Pennsylvania. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 1 high, 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 Allegheny County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $17,029 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 45.2% local, 47.4% state, and 7.3% 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 60/100, ranked #208 of 648 in Pennsylvania against a state average of 49, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 4 schools offering Advanced Placement (11 AP courses district-wide), a 403.7:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 38.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 69.8% White, 10.0% African American, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Highlands Early Childhood Center, with a diversity index of 54.6/100.
Its largest campus is Highlands Shs, enrolling 665 students (33% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Highlands Early Childhood Center, at 205 students, a 3x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Highlands Shs accounts for 30.0% of all Highlands Sd student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Highlands 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.
Highlands Sd school enrollment varies 3.2× across entities
Highlands Sd school enrollment ranges from 205 students (lowest) to 665 students (highest), a spread of 460 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.
Highlands Sd has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 97.6% 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). 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.
Highlands Sd student-counselor ratio is 404:1 — 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.
Highlands Sd chronic absenteeism rate is 38.4% — 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.