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Custer, Michigan - 2 schools
An equity score of 39/100 ranks Mason County Eastern Schools #522 of 707 districts in Michigan (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,129 per pupil, Mason County Eastern Schools ranks #525 of 821 Michigan districts by per-pupil spending (Michigan districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
382
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$12,129
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Mason County Eastern Schools operates 2 public schools serving 382 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Michigan. 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 Mason County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,129 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 821 Michigan districts by per-pupil spending. See how Michigan compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 41.3% local, 43.2% state, and 15.4% 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 39/100, ranked #522 of 707 in Michigan against a state average of 50, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 266.5:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 52.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 91.3% White, 3.4% Hispanic or Latino, 1.4% African American across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Mason County Eastern Elem Sch, enrolling 181 students (51% of the district's total enrollment).
Mason County Eastern Elem Sch accounts for 47.4% of all Mason County Eastern Schools student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Mason County Eastern Schools a distant remainder — means Mason County Eastern Schools-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.
Mason County Eastern Schools has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 64.3% 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.
Mason County Eastern Schools student-counselor ratio is 267:1 — 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 Mason County Eastern Schools is typically wider than the Mason County Eastern Schools-aggregate figure suggests.
Mason County Eastern Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 52.4% — 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.