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Providence, Rhode Island - 39 schools
An equity score of 68/100 ranks Providence #9 of 53 districts in Rhode Island (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $22,536 per pupil, Providence ranks #11 of 60 Rhode Island districts by per-pupil spending (Rhode Island districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
20,725
Total Enrollment
39
Schools
$22,536
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Providence operates 39 public schools serving 20,725 students, placing it in the mid-size range in Rhode Island. The school portfolio breaks down into 17 elementary, 9 high, 7 combined, 6 middle 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 Providence County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $22,536 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 60 Rhode Island districts by per-pupil spending. See how Rhode Island compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 25.2% local, 57.9% state, and 16.8% 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 68/100, ranked #9 of 53 in Rhode Island against a state average of 51, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 9 of 39 schools offering Advanced Placement (58 AP courses district-wide), a 398.7:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 58.9% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 68.2% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% African American, 8.7% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Vartan Gregorian El. School, with a diversity index of 70.1/100.
Its largest campus is Classical High School, enrolling 1,116 students (5% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Alan Shawn Feinstein Elem., at 277 students, a 4x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Providence school enrollment varies 4.0× across entities
Providence school enrollment ranges from 277 students (lowest) to 1,116 students (highest), a spread of 839 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.
Providence has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 75.8% 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.
Providence student-counselor ratio is 399:1 — 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.
Providence chronic absenteeism rate is 58.9% — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 above typical often signal acute resource constraints or a structurally different scale than most peers — worth reading alongside the underlying counts, not the ratio alone.