Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal
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
editorial standards & corrections policy, the
methodology behind these numbers, or
report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.
Mcalester, Oklahoma - 8 schools
An equity score of 35/100 ranks Mcalester #241 of 439 districts in Oklahoma (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,331 per pupil, Mcalester ranks #209 of 540 Oklahoma districts by per-pupil spending (Oklahoma districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,956
Total Enrollment
8
Schools
$12,331
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Mcalester operates 8 public schools serving 2,956 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Oklahoma. The school portfolio breaks down into 5 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle, 1 combined 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 Pittsburg County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,331 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 540 Oklahoma districts by per-pupil spending. See how Oklahoma compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 29.7% local, 47.7% state, and 22.5% 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 35/100, ranked #241 of 439 in Oklahoma against a state average of 38, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 8 schools offering Advanced Placement (8 AP courses district-wide), a 524:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 26.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 45.6% White, 14.6% Hispanic or Latino, 3.2% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Will Rogers Es, with a diversity index of 71.4/100.
Its largest campus is Mcalester Hs, enrolling 982 students (31% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Jefferson Ec Ctr, at 168 students, a 6x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Mcalester Hs accounts for 31.4% of all Mcalester student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Mcalester-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.
Mcalester school enrollment varies 5.8× across entities
Mcalester school enrollment ranges from 168 students (lowest) to 982 students (highest), a spread of 814 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.
Mcalester student-counselor ratio is 524:1 — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 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.
Mcalester chronic absenteeism rate is 26.5% — 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 Mcalester is typically wider than the Mcalester-aggregate figure suggests.