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Penasco, New Mexico - 3 schools
An equity score of 62/100 ranks Penasco Independent Schools #26 of 98 districts in New Mexico (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $18,897 per pupil, Penasco Independent Schools ranks #36 of 141 New Mexico districts by per-pupil spending (New Mexico districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
284
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$18,897
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Penasco Independent Schools operates 3 public schools serving 284 students, placing it among the smallest districts in New Mexico. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 combined, 1 high, 1 middle 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 Taos County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $18,897 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 141 New Mexico districts by per-pupil spending. See how New Mexico compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 9.5% local, 77.5% state, and 13.0% 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 62/100, ranked #26 of 98 in New Mexico against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 116.7:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 10.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 85.1% Hispanic or Latino, 4.3% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Penasco High, with a diversity index of 31.6/100.
Its largest campus is Penasco Elementary, enrolling 127 students (46% of the district's total enrollment).
Penasco Elementary accounts for 44.7% of all Penasco Independent Schools student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Penasco Independent 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.
Penasco Independent Schools has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 100.0% 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). Eligibility here is a supermajority of the population — well past the 75% concentration-grant threshold that unlocks extra funding 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.
Penasco Independent Schools student-counselor ratio is 117:1 — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 Values this far below typical often correlate with unusually small scale or population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se — worth checking whether the underlying denominator is itself an outlier.
Penasco Independent Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 10.1% — 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.