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Easley, South Carolina - 23 schools
An equity score of 21/100 ranks Pickens 01 #69 of 73 districts in South Carolina (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $10,622 per pupil, Pickens 01 ranks #72 of 74 South Carolina districts by per-pupil spending (South Carolina districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
16,310
Total Enrollment
23
Schools
$10,622
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Pickens 01 operates 23 public schools serving 16,310 students, placing it in the mid-size range in South Carolina. The school portfolio breaks down into 13 combined, 5 middle, 4 high, 1 elementary schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage 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 Pickens County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $10,622 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the bottom 8 of 74 South Carolina districts by per-pupil spending. See how South Carolina compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 37.4% local, 47.7% state, and 14.9% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one. The district's equity score is 21/100, ranked #69 of 73 in South Carolina against a state average of 51, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 4 of 23 schools offering Advanced Placement (69 AP courses district-wide), a 484.2:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 32.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 73.9% White, 11.3% Hispanic or Latino, 6.6% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Central Academy of the Arts, with a diversity index of 62.5/100.
Its largest campus is Easley High, enrolling 1,862 students (11% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Ambler Elementary, at 316 students, a 6x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Pickens 01 school enrollment varies 5.9× across entities
Pickens 01 school enrollment ranges from 316 students (lowest) to 1,862 students (highest), a spread of 1,546 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.
Pickens 01 has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 77.1% 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 — including this one — 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.
Pickens 01 student-counselor ratio is 484:1 — 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.
Pickens 01 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.