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Saint Marys, Pennsylvania - 5 schools
An equity score of 47/100 ranks Saint Marys Area Sd #348 of 648 districts in Pennsylvania (state average 49). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,233 per pupil, Saint Marys Area Sd ranks #547 of 671 Pennsylvania districts by per-pupil spending (Pennsylvania districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,866
Total Enrollment
5
Schools
$15,233
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Saint Marys Area Sd operates 5 public schools serving 1,866 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Pennsylvania. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 1 combined, 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 Elk County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,233 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 671 Pennsylvania districts by per-pupil spending. See how Pennsylvania compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 51.2% local, 40.3% state, and 8.4% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 47/100, ranked #348 of 648 in Pennsylvania against a state average of 49, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 5 schools offering Advanced Placement (3 AP courses district-wide), a 392:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 16.7% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 95.4% White, 1.2% Hispanic or Latino, 0.6% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is South St Marys Street El Sch, with a diversity index of 12.1/100.
Its largest campus is South St Marys Street El Sch, enrolling 583 students (30% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Bennetts Valley El Sch, at 85 students, a 7x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
South St Marys Street El Sch accounts for 30.2% of all Saint Marys Area Sd student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Saint Marys Area Sd-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.
Saint Marys Area Sd school enrollment varies 6.9× across entities
Saint Marys Area Sd school enrollment ranges from 85 students (lowest) to 583 students (highest), a spread of 498 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.
Saint Marys Area Sd has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 99.6% 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). 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.
Saint Marys Area Sd student-counselor ratio is 392:1 — 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.
Saint Marys Area Sd chronic absenteeism rate is 16.7% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
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 Variation between sub-units within Saint Marys Area Sd is typically wider than the Saint Marys Area Sd-aggregate figure suggests.
Saint Marys Area Sd has 5 schools, including 1 combined, 1 high, 1 middle, 2 elementary. Total enrollment is 1,866 students.
How much does Saint Marys Area Sd spend per student?
Saint Marys Area Sd spends $15,233 per student. The district has an equity score of 47/100, ranking #348 in Pennsylvania.
What is the demographic composition of Saint Marys Area Sd?
Saint Marys Area Sd students are 95.4% White, 1.2% Hispanic or Latino, 0.6% Asian, 0.2% African American, averaged across 5 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Saint Marys Area Sd?
Saint Marys Area Sd has an equity score of 47/100, ranking #348 out of 648 districts in Pennsylvania.