At $18,142 per pupil, Petersham ranks #351 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending (Massachusetts districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
127
Total Enrollment
1
Schools
$18,142
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Petersham operates 1 public schools serving 127 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Massachusetts. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 elementary 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 Worcester County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $18,142 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending. See how Massachusetts compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 38.8% local, 43.9% state, and 17.3% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one.
a 142:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 0.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 86.6% White, 7.7% Hispanic or Latino, 2.1% African American across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Petersham Center, enrolling 142 students (100% of the district's total enrollment).
Petersham Center accounts for 100.0% of all Petersham student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Petersham a distant remainder — means Petersham-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade band: elementary. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how the district allocates programs, capital, or staff. Because it contains a majority of the affected population, enrollment-weighted aggregates will sit closer to this entity's reported fields than to those of smaller peers; an unweighted entity count answers a different question.
Petersham student-counselor ratio is 142:1 — 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.
Petersham chronic absenteeism rate is 0.0% — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 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.