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Little Rock, Arkansas - 26 schools
An equity score of 50/100 ranks Pulaski Co. Spec. School Dist. #123 of 250 districts in Arkansas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $14,894 per pupil, Pulaski Co. Spec. School Dist. ranks #30 of 255 Arkansas districts by per-pupil spending (Arkansas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
12,244
Total Enrollment
26
Schools
$14,894
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Pulaski Co. Spec. School Dist. operates 26 public schools serving 12,244 students, placing it in the mid-size range in Arkansas. The school portfolio breaks down into 17 combined, 5 high, 3 middle, 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 Pulaski County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $14,894 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 255 Arkansas districts by per-pupil spending. See how Arkansas compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 63.0% local, 16.6% state, and 20.4% 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 50/100, ranked #123 of 250 in Arkansas against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 5 of 26 schools offering Advanced Placement (49 AP courses district-wide), a 371.8:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 20.3% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 46.1% African American, 31.2% White, 13.3% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Bates Elementary School, with a diversity index of 70.5/100.
Its largest campus is Sylvan Hills High School, enrolling 1,120 students (9% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is College Station Elem. School, at 150 students, a 7x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Pulaski Co. Spec. School Dist. school enrollment varies 7.5× across entities
Pulaski Co. Spec. School Dist. school enrollment ranges from 150 students (lowest) to 1,120 students (highest), a spread of 970 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.
Pulaski Co. Spec. School Dist. has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 62.8% 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). Eligibility here is approaching the 75% concentration-grant threshold; it does not yet unlock the extra funding tier but sits meaningfully above the baseline 50% majority mark. 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.
Pulaski Co. Spec. School Dist. student-counselor ratio is 372:1 — 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.
Pulaski Co. Spec. School Dist. chronic absenteeism rate is 20.3% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
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 Variation between sub-units within Pulaski Co. Spec. School Dist. is typically wider than the Pulaski Co. Spec. School Dist.-aggregate figure suggests.
Comparisons are relative to Pulaski Co. Spec. School Dist.'s own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in Arkansas
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