Ripley Co. R-Iii operates 1 public schools serving 121 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Missouri. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 other schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage before they move, rent, or enrol. Aggregated across those campuses, enrollment totals 123 pupils using the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is geographically located in Ripley County County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $9,694 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, which aggregates every revenue and spending line reported under federal accounting standards. The funding mix is 26.5% local, 50.7% state, and 22.8% federal — a breakdown that matters because districts leaning heavily on local revenue are more exposed to property-tax swings, while higher federal shares typically track Title I concentration. Average teacher compensation clocks in at $53,710 per NCES F-33, a signal of the district's ability to recruit and retain staff against neighbouring districts.
a 123:1 student-counselor ratio that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 13.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 93.5% White, 3.3% Hispanic or Latino, 3.3% African American across the district's schools.
Ripley Co. Elem. accounts for 100.0% of all Ripley Co. R-Iii student enrollment
That concentration — well above the 8.4% national median for largest-entity share — means Ripley Co. R-Iii-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: other. 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.
Ripley Co. R-Iii has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 82.6% 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.
Ripley Co. R-Iii student-counselor ratio is 123:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Ripley Co. R-Iii chronic absenteeism rate is 13.0% — low (typically associated with lower-than-average attendance disruption; districts in this range often have attendance interventions, robust transportation, or smaller catchments that reduce barriers)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.