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Ludlow, Kentucky - 2 schools
An equity score of 65/100 ranks Ludlow Independent #46 of 171 districts in Kentucky (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $14,082 per pupil, Ludlow Independent ranks #38 of 171 Kentucky districts by per-pupil spending (Kentucky districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
828
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$14,082
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Ludlow Independent operates 2 public schools serving 828 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Kentucky. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 combined 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 Kenton County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $14,082 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 171 Kentucky districts by per-pupil spending. See how Kentucky compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 23.9% local, 55.3% state, and 20.8% 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 65/100, ranked #46 of 171 in Kentucky against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 2 schools offering Advanced Placement (1 AP courses district-wide), a 415.5:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 18.7% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 80.3% White, 7.4% Hispanic or Latino, 2.1% African American across the district's schools.
Mary a. Goetz Elementary School accounts for 54.8% of all Ludlow Independent student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Ludlow Independent a distant remainder — means Ludlow Independent-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.
Ludlow Independent has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 59.8% 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.
Ludlow Independent student-counselor ratio is 416:1 — 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.
Ludlow Independent chronic absenteeism rate is 18.7% — 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 Ludlow Independent is typically wider than the Ludlow Independent-aggregate figure suggests.