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Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina - 5 schools
An equity score of 64/100 ranks Roanoke Rapids City Schools #72 of 293 districts in North Carolina (state average 45). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,783 per pupil, Roanoke Rapids City Schools ranks #101 of 322 North Carolina districts by per-pupil spending (North Carolina districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,765
Total Enrollment
5
Schools
$12,783
Per-Pupil Spending
High, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Roanoke Rapids City Schools operates 5 public schools serving 2,765 students, placing it among the smallest districts in North Carolina. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 high, 2 combined, 1 middle schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Halifax County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,783 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 322 North Carolina districts by per-pupil spending. See how North Carolina compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 17.4% local, 59.7% state, and 22.9% 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 64/100, ranked #72 of 293 in North Carolina against a state average of 45, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 2 of 5 schools offering Advanced Placement (13 AP courses district-wide), a 471.2:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 37.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 50.6% White, 30.1% African American, 10.4% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Roanoke Rapids Early College High, with a diversity index of 65.2/100.
Its largest campus is Roanoke Rapids High School, enrolling 776 students (28% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Roanoke Rapids Early College High, at 119 students, a 7x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Roanoke Rapids High School accounts for 28.1% of all Roanoke Rapids City Schools student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Roanoke Rapids City Schools-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: high. 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.
Roanoke Rapids City Schools school enrollment varies 6.5× across entities
Roanoke Rapids City Schools school enrollment ranges from 119 students (lowest) to 776 students (highest), a spread of 657 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.
Roanoke Rapids City Schools has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 99.1% 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). Eligibility here is a supermajority of the population — well past the 75% concentration-grant threshold that unlocks extra funding 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.
Roanoke Rapids City Schools student-counselor ratio is 471:1 — 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.
Roanoke Rapids City Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 37.1% — 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.