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Palatka, Florida - 17 schools
An equity score of 57/100 ranks Putnam #26 of 67 districts in Florida (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $11,305 per pupil, Putnam ranks #29 of 67 Florida districts by per-pupil spending (Florida districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
10,293
Total Enrollment
17
Schools
$11,305
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Putnam operates 17 public schools serving 10,293 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Florida. The school portfolio breaks down into 11 combined, 5 elementary, 1 middle schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly 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 Putnam County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $11,305 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 67 Florida districts by per-pupil spending. See how Florida compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 26.3% local, 44.0% state, and 29.7% 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 57/100, ranked #26 of 67 in Florida against a state average of 51, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 5 of 17 schools offering Advanced Placement (32 AP courses district-wide), a 502.3:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 51.2% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 52.4% White, 22.4% African American, 19.1% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Crescent City Jr-Sr High School, with a diversity index of 63.5/100.
Its largest campus is Palatka Jr - Sr High School, enrolling 1,568 students (16% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Teen Parent Pk Child Care Program, at 2 students, a 784x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Palatka Jr - Sr High School accounts for 15.2% of all Putnam student enrollment
That concentration means Putnam-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.
Putnam school enrollment varies 784× across entities
Putnam school enrollment ranges from 2 students (lowest) to 1,568 students (highest), a spread of 1,566 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Putnam has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 57.3% 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 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.
Putnam student-counselor ratio is 502:1 — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 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.
Putnam chronic absenteeism rate is 51.2% — 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.