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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
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Linden, Alabama - 3 schools
An equity score of 92/100 ranks Linden City #3 of 146 districts in Alabama (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,242 per pupil, Linden City ranks #13 of 146 Alabama districts by per-pupil spending (Alabama districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
434
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$15,242
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Linden City operates 3 public schools serving 434 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Alabama. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 combined, 1 high, 1 middle 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 Marengo County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,242 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 15 of 146 Alabama districts by per-pupil spending. See how Alabama compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 19.4% local, 59.1% state, and 21.5% 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 92/100, ranked #3 of 146 in Alabama against a state average of 51, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 155:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 54.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 93.9% African American, 4.1% White, 0.9% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Linden Elementary School, with a diversity index of 16.3/100.
Its largest campus is Linden Elementary School, enrolling 184 students (48% of the district's total enrollment).
Linden Elementary School accounts for 42.4% of all Linden City student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Linden City-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.
Linden City school enrollment varies 2.4× across entities
Linden City school enrollment ranges from 77 students (lowest) to 184 students (highest), a spread of 107 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.
Linden City has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 82.2% 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 — including this one — 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.
Linden City student-counselor ratio is 155:1 — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 Values this far below typical often correlate with unusually small scale or population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se — worth checking whether the underlying denominator is itself an outlier.
Linden City chronic absenteeism rate is 54.0% — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 Values this far above typical often signal acute resource constraints or a structurally different scale than most peers — worth reading alongside the underlying counts, not the ratio alone.