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Pender, Nebraska - 2 schools
An equity score of 45/100 ranks Pender Public Schools #118 of 200 districts in Nebraska (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,496 per pupil, Pender Public Schools ranks #158 of 244 Nebraska districts by per-pupil spending (Nebraska districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
443
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$15,496
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Pender Public Schools operates 2 public schools serving 443 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Nebraska. 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 Thurston County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,496 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 73.8% local, 18.5% state, and 7.6% 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 45/100, ranked #118 of 200 in Nebraska against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 433:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 10.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 84.0% White, 9.9% Hispanic or Latino, 0.7% Asian across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Pender Elementary School, enrolling 242 students (56% of the district's total enrollment).
Pender Elementary School accounts for 54.6% of all Pender Public Schools student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Pender Public Schools a distant remainder — means Pender 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.
Pender Public Schools student-counselor ratio is 433:1 — 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.
Pender Public Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 10.4% — 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.
Pender Public Schools has 2 schools, including 2 combined. Total enrollment is 443 students.
How much does Pender Public Schools spend per student?
Pender Public Schools spends $15,496 per student. The district has an equity score of 45/100, ranking #118 in Nebraska.
What is the demographic composition of Pender Public Schools?
Pender Public Schools students are 84.0% White, 9.9% Hispanic or Latino, 0.7% Asian, 0.2% African American, averaged across 2 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Pender Public Schools?
Pender Public Schools has an equity score of 45/100, ranking #118 out of 200 districts in Nebraska.