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Palestine, Texas - 6 schools
An equity score of 57/100 ranks Palestine Isd #399 of 1044 districts in Texas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,744 per pupil, Palestine Isd ranks #629 of 1202 Texas districts by per-pupil spending (Texas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
3,297
Total Enrollment
6
Schools
$12,744
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Palestine Isd operates 6 public schools serving 3,297 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Texas. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 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 Anderson County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,744 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 1202 Texas districts by per-pupil spending. See how Texas compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 36.2% local, 46.8% state, and 17.0% 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 57/100, ranked #399 of 1044 in Texas against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 6 schools offering Advanced Placement (8 AP courses district-wide), a 460.5:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 24.9% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 42.7% Hispanic or Latino, 25.3% African American, 25.2% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Southside El, with a diversity index of 69.5/100.
Its largest campus is Palestine H S, enrolling 1,003 students (31% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Washington Early Childhood Center, at 215 students, a 5x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Palestine H S accounts for 30.4% of all Palestine Isd student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Palestine Isd-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.
Palestine Isd school enrollment varies 4.7× across entities
Palestine Isd school enrollment ranges from 215 students (lowest) to 1,003 students (highest), a spread of 788 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.
Palestine Isd has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 77.6% 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 — including this one — 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.
Palestine Isd student-counselor ratio is 461:1 — 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.
Palestine Isd chronic absenteeism rate is 24.9% — 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 Palestine Isd is typically wider than the Palestine Isd-aggregate figure suggests.