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Joplin, Missouri - 15 schools
An equity score of 25/100 ranks Joplin Schools #389 of 432 districts in Missouri (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $9,800 per pupil, Joplin Schools ranks #507 of 549 Missouri districts by per-pupil spending (Missouri districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
7,694
Total Enrollment
15
Schools
$9,800
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Joplin Schools operates 15 public schools serving 7,694 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Missouri. The school portfolio breaks down into 10 elementary, 3 middle, 1 high, 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 Jasper County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $9,800 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the bottom 55 of 549 Missouri districts by per-pupil spending. See how Missouri compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 54.9% local, 26.1% state, and 19.0% 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 25/100, ranked #389 of 432 in Missouri against a state average of 50, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 15 schools offering Advanced Placement (9 AP courses district-wide), a 403.3:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 17.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 65.2% White, 13.1% Hispanic or Latino, 4.8% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Eastmorland Elem., with a diversity index of 59.4/100.
Its largest campus is Joplin High, enrolling 2,288 students (29% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Jefferson Elem., at 218 students, a 10x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Joplin High accounts for 29.1% of all Joplin Schools student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Joplin Schools-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.
Joplin Schools school enrollment varies 10× across entities
Joplin Schools school enrollment ranges from 218 students (lowest) to 2,288 students (highest), a spread of 2,070 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.
Joplin Schools has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 52.2% 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 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.
Joplin Schools student-counselor ratio is 403:1 — 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.
Joplin Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 17.0% — 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 Joplin Schools is typically wider than the Joplin Schools-aggregate figure suggests.