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.
Murphysboro, Illinois - 5 schools
An equity score of 34/100 ranks Murphysboro Cusd 186 #477 of 763 districts in Illinois (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,283 per pupil, Murphysboro Cusd 186 ranks #479 of 848 Illinois districts by per-pupil spending (Illinois districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,929
Total Enrollment
5
Schools
$15,283
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Murphysboro Cusd 186 operates 5 public schools serving 1,929 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Illinois. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle, 1 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 Jackson County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,283 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 848 Illinois districts by per-pupil spending. See how Illinois compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 26.7% local, 54.5% state, and 18.8% 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 34/100, ranked #477 of 763 in Illinois 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 5 schools offering Advanced Placement (3 AP courses district-wide), a 352.3:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 26.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 68.6% White, 13.1% African American, 8.4% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Gen John a Logan Attendance Cntr, with a diversity index of 56.1/100.
Its largest campus is Murphysboro High School, enrolling 565 students (30% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Mcelvain School, at 64 students, a 9x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Murphysboro High School accounts for 29.3% of all Murphysboro Cusd 186 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Murphysboro Cusd 186-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.
Murphysboro Cusd 186 school enrollment varies 8.8× across entities
Murphysboro Cusd 186 school enrollment ranges from 64 students (lowest) to 565 students (highest), a spread of 501 students. That spread reflects typical mixed-portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Murphysboro Cusd 186 student-counselor ratio is 352:1 — 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.
Murphysboro Cusd 186 chronic absenteeism rate is 26.6% — 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 Murphysboro Cusd 186 is typically wider than the Murphysboro Cusd 186-aggregate figure suggests.