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Pawtucket, Rhode Island - 16 schools
An equity score of 53/100 ranks Pawtucket #24 of 53 districts in Rhode Island (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $17,139 per pupil, Pawtucket ranks #54 of 60 Rhode Island districts by per-pupil spending (Rhode Island districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
8,056
Total Enrollment
16
Schools
$17,139
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Pawtucket operates 16 public schools serving 8,056 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Rhode Island. The school portfolio breaks down into 6 elementary, 4 combined, 3 high, 3 middle 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 Providence County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $17,139 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the bottom 6 of 60 Rhode Island districts by per-pupil spending. See how Rhode Island compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 20.0% local, 63.7% state, and 16.2% 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 53/100, ranked #24 of 53 in Rhode Island against a state average of 51, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 3 of 16 schools offering Advanced Placement (14 AP courses district-wide), a 287.2:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 46.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 39.1% Hispanic or Latino, 28.2% African American, 24.3% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Agnes E. Little School, with a diversity index of 71.4/100.
Its largest campus is William E. Tolman High, enrolling 995 students (13% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Jacqueline M. Walsh School, at 173 students, a 6x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Pawtucket school enrollment varies 5.8× across entities
Pawtucket school enrollment ranges from 173 students (lowest) to 995 students (highest), a spread of 822 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.
Pawtucket has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 51.0% 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 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.
Pawtucket student-counselor ratio is 287:1 — 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 Pawtucket is typically wider than the Pawtucket-aggregate figure suggests.
Pawtucket chronic absenteeism rate is 46.1% — 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.