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.
Kismet, Kansas - 3 schools
An equity score of 78/100 ranks Kismet-Plains #17 of 250 districts in Kansas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,861 per pupil, Kismet-Plains ranks #67 of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending (Kansas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
596
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$16,861
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Kismet-Plains operates 3 public schools serving 596 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Kansas. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 combined, 1 elementary 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 Seward County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,861 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending. See how Kansas compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 23.2% local, 68.8% state, and 8.0% 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 78/100, ranked #17 of 250 in Kansas against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 177.1:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 21.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 65.5% Hispanic or Latino, 32.3% White, 0.7% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Southwestern Heights Jr/Sr High, with a diversity index of 48.3/100.
Southwestern Heights Jr/Sr High accounts for 52.0% of all Kismet-Plains student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Kismet-Plains a distant remainder — means Kismet-Plains-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: combined. 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.
Kismet-Plains school enrollment varies 2.7× across entities
Kismet-Plains school enrollment ranges from 113 students (lowest) to 310 students (highest), a spread of 197 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.
Kismet-Plains has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 63.2% 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). Eligibility here is approaching the 75% concentration-grant threshold; it does not yet unlock the extra funding tier but sits meaningfully above the baseline 50% majority mark. 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.
Kismet-Plains student-counselor ratio is 177:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Kismet-Plains chronic absenteeism rate is 21.8% — 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 Kismet-Plains is typically wider than the Kismet-Plains-aggregate figure suggests.