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Skowhegan, Maine - 7 schools
An equity score of 80/100 ranks Rsu 54/Msad 54 #6 of 131 districts in Maine (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $19,625 per pupil, Rsu 54/Msad 54 ranks #77 of 203 Maine districts by per-pupil spending (Maine districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,229
Total Enrollment
7
Schools
$19,625
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Rsu 54/Msad 54 operates 7 public schools serving 2,229 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Maine. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 combined, 2 elementary, 1 high, 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 Somerset County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $19,625 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 203 Maine districts by per-pupil spending. See how Maine compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 33.6% local, 49.6% state, and 16.8% 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 80/100, ranked #6 of 131 in Maine against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 7 schools offering Advanced Placement (6 AP courses district-wide), a 326.1:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 31.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 92.2% White, 3.2% Hispanic or Latino, 0.7% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is North Elementary School, with a diversity index of 18.8/100.
Its largest campus is Skowhegan Area High School, enrolling 686 students (31% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is North Elementary School, at 118 students, a 6x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Skowhegan Area High School accounts for 30.8% of all Rsu 54/Msad 54 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Rsu 54/Msad 54-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 54/Msad 54 school enrollment varies 5.8× across entities
Rsu 54/Msad 54 school enrollment ranges from 118 students (lowest) to 686 students (highest), a spread of 568 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 54/Msad 54 has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 58.2% 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 54/Msad 54 student-counselor ratio is 326:1 — 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 54/Msad 54 is typically wider than the Rsu 54/Msad 54-aggregate figure suggests.
Rsu 54/Msad 54 chronic absenteeism rate is 31.5% — 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.