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Johnston, Rhode Island - 8 schools
An equity score of 53/100 ranks Johnston #25 of 53 districts in Rhode Island (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $19,162 per pupil, Johnston ranks #32 of 60 Rhode Island districts by per-pupil spending (Rhode Island districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
3,144
Total Enrollment
8
Schools
$19,162
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Johnston operates 8 public schools serving 3,144 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Rhode Island. The school portfolio breaks down into 5 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle, 1 combined 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 Providence County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $19,162 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 60 Rhode Island districts by per-pupil spending. See how Rhode Island compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 56.0% local, 33.5% state, and 10.5% 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 53/100, ranked #25 of 53 in Rhode Island against a state average of 51, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 8 schools offering Advanced Placement (7 AP courses district-wide), a 425.5:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 27.2% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 52.4% White, 33.0% Hispanic or Latino, 7.3% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Early Childhood Center, with a diversity index of 65.3/100.
Its largest campus is Johnston Senior High, enrolling 826 students (26% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Graniteville School, at 152 students, a 5x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Johnston Senior High accounts for 26.3% of all Johnston student enrollment
That concentration means Johnston-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.
Johnston school enrollment varies 5.4× across entities
Johnston school enrollment ranges from 152 students (lowest) to 826 students (highest), a spread of 674 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.
Johnston student-counselor ratio is 426:1 — 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.
Johnston chronic absenteeism rate is 27.2% — 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 Johnston is typically wider than the Johnston-aggregate figure suggests.