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Pellston, Michigan - 2 schools
An equity score of 70/100 ranks Pellston Public Schools #81 of 707 districts in Michigan (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,919 per pupil, Pellston Public Schools ranks #72 of 821 Michigan districts by per-pupil spending (Michigan districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
459
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$16,919
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Pellston Public Schools operates 2 public schools serving 459 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Michigan. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 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 Emmet County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,919 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 83 of 821 Michigan districts by per-pupil spending. See how Michigan compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 66.9% local, 15.7% state, and 17.5% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 70/100, ranked #81 of 707 in Michigan against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 239:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 32.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 77.7% White, 1.5% Hispanic or Latino, 0.4% African American across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Pellston Middlehigh School, enrolling 258 students (54% of the district's total enrollment).
Pellston Middlehigh School accounts for 54.0% of all Pellston Public Schools student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Pellston Public Schools a distant remainder — means Pellston Public Schools-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: combined. 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.
Pellston Public Schools has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 58.4% 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.
Pellston Public Schools student-counselor ratio is 239:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Pellston Public Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 32.0% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Pellston Public Schools has 2 schools, including 2 combined. Total enrollment is 459 students.
How much does Pellston Public Schools spend per student?
Pellston Public Schools spends $16,919 per student. The district has an equity score of 70/100, ranking #81 in Michigan.
What is the demographic composition of Pellston Public Schools?
Pellston Public Schools students are 77.7% White, 1.5% Hispanic or Latino, 0.4% African American, averaged across 2 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Pellston Public Schools?
Pellston Public Schools has an equity score of 70/100, ranking #81 out of 707 districts in Michigan.