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Houlton, Maine - 4 schools
An equity score of 44/100 ranks Rsu 29/Msad 29 #80 of 131 districts in Maine (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $14,609 per pupil, Rsu 29/Msad 29 ranks #172 of 203 Maine districts by per-pupil spending (Maine districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,274
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$14,609
Per-Pupil Spending
High, Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Rsu 29/Msad 29 operates 4 public schools serving 1,274 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Maine. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 high, 1 elementary, 1 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 Aroostook County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $14,609 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 203 Maine districts by per-pupil spending. See how Maine compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 17.1% local, 60.6% state, and 22.3% 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 44/100, ranked #80 of 131 in Maine against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 342.9:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 43.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 81.4% White, 1.3% Hispanic or Latino, 1.0% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Houlton Junior High School, with a diversity index of 38.3/100.
Its largest campus is Houlton High School, enrolling 378 students (31% of the district's total enrollment).
Houlton High School accounts for 29.7% of all Rsu 29/Msad 29 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Rsu 29/Msad 29-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.
Rsu 29/Msad 29 school enrollment varies 2.0× across entities
Rsu 29/Msad 29 school enrollment ranges from 186 students (lowest) to 378 students (highest), a spread of 192 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.
Rsu 29/Msad 29 has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 56.0% 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.
Rsu 29/Msad 29 student-counselor ratio is 343:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
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 Variation between sub-units within Rsu 29/Msad 29 is typically wider than the Rsu 29/Msad 29-aggregate figure suggests.
Rsu 29/Msad 29 chronic absenteeism rate is 43.6% — 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.