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Lancaster, Pennsylvania - 19 schools
An equity score of 86/100 ranks Lancaster Sd #21 of 648 districts in Pennsylvania (state average 49). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $21,346 per pupil, Lancaster Sd ranks #85 of 671 Pennsylvania districts by per-pupil spending (Pennsylvania districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
10,075
Total Enrollment
19
Schools
$21,346
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Lancaster Sd operates 19 public schools serving 10,075 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Pennsylvania. The school portfolio breaks down into 14 combined, 4 middle, 1 high 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 Lancaster County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $21,346 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 671 Pennsylvania districts by per-pupil spending. See how Pennsylvania compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 37.2% local, 47.3% state, and 15.5% 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 86/100, ranked #21 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 19 schools offering Advanced Placement (14 AP courses district-wide), a 313:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 31.7% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 60.0% Hispanic or Latino, 16.5% African American, 13.1% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Smith-Wade-El El Sch, with a diversity index of 69.1/100.
Its largest campus is Mccaskey Campus, enrolling 2,600 students (26% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Fulton El Sch, at 274 students, a 9x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Mccaskey Campus accounts for 25.8% of all Lancaster Sd student enrollment
That concentration means Lancaster 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.
Lancaster Sd school enrollment varies 9.5× across entities
Lancaster Sd school enrollment ranges from 274 students (lowest) to 2,600 students (highest), a spread of 2,326 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.
Lancaster Sd has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 96.1% 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.
Lancaster Sd student-counselor ratio is 313:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
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 Variation between sub-units within Lancaster Sd is typically wider than the Lancaster Sd-aggregate figure suggests.
Lancaster Sd chronic absenteeism rate is 31.7% — 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.