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Grand Island, Nebraska - 5 schools
An equity score of 40/100 ranks Northwest Public Schools #132 of 200 districts in Nebraska (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $13,686 per pupil, Northwest Public Schools ranks #197 of 244 Nebraska districts by per-pupil spending (Nebraska districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,465
Total Enrollment
5
Schools
$13,686
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Northwest Public Schools operates 5 public schools serving 1,465 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Nebraska. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 combined, 1 high 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 Hall County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $13,686 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 244 Nebraska districts by per-pupil spending. See how Nebraska compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 43.2% local, 48.5% state, and 8.3% 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 40/100, ranked #132 of 200 in Nebraska against a state average of 50, notably less even than the typical district in 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 357:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 11.9% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 83.2% White, 15.0% Hispanic or Latino, 0.2% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is St Libory Elementary School, with a diversity index of 37.2/100.
Its largest campus is Northwest High School, enrolling 680 students (47% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Lockwood Elementary School, at 32 students, a 21x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Northwest High School accounts for 46.4% of all Northwest Public Schools student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Northwest Public Schools a distant remainder — means Northwest Public Schools-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.
Northwest Public Schools school enrollment varies 21× across entities
Northwest Public Schools school enrollment ranges from 32 students (lowest) to 680 students (highest), a spread of 648 students. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Northwest Public Schools student-counselor ratio is 357:1 — 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.
Northwest Public Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 11.9% — low (typically associated with lower-than-average attendance disruption; districts in this range often have attendance interventions, robust transportation, or smaller catchments that reduce barriers)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Northwest Public Schools has 5 schools, including 1 high, 4 combined. Total enrollment is 1,465 students.
How much does Northwest Public Schools spend per student?
Northwest Public Schools spends $13,686 per student. The district has an equity score of 40/100, ranking #132 in Nebraska.
What is the demographic composition of Northwest Public Schools?
Northwest Public Schools students are 83.2% White, 15.0% Hispanic or Latino, 0.2% African American, averaged across 5 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Northwest Public Schools?
Northwest Public Schools has an equity score of 40/100, ranking #132 out of 200 districts in Nebraska.