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Ardmore, Pennsylvania - 11 schools
An equity score of 69/100 ranks Lower Merion Sd #112 of 648 districts in Pennsylvania (state average 49). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $30,110 per pupil, Lower Merion Sd ranks #11 of 671 Pennsylvania districts by per-pupil spending (Pennsylvania districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
8,523
Total Enrollment
11
Schools
$30,110
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Lower Merion Sd operates 11 public schools serving 8,523 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Pennsylvania. The school portfolio breaks down into 9 elementary, 2 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 Montgomery County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $30,110 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 68 of 671 Pennsylvania districts by per-pupil spending. See how Pennsylvania compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 83.7% local, 14.1% state, and 2.3% 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 69/100, ranked #112 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 2 of 11 schools offering Advanced Placement (47 AP courses district-wide), a 298.3:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 7.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 63.6% White, 11.9% Asian, 8.5% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Penn Wynne Sch, with a diversity index of 65.5/100.
Its largest campus is Lower Merion Hs, enrolling 1,674 students (20% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Belmont Hills El Sch, at 358 students, a 5x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Lower Merion Hs accounts for 19.6% of all Lower Merion Sd student enrollment
That concentration means Lower Merion 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.
Lower Merion Sd school enrollment varies 4.7× across entities
Lower Merion Sd school enrollment ranges from 358 students (lowest) to 1,674 students (highest), a spread of 1,316 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.
Lower Merion Sd student-counselor ratio is 298:1 — 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 Lower Merion Sd is typically wider than the Lower Merion Sd-aggregate figure suggests.
Lower Merion Sd chronic absenteeism rate is 7.6% — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 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.