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Saluda, South Carolina - 5 schools
An equity score of 49/100 ranks Saluda 01 #41 of 73 districts in South Carolina (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,073 per pupil, Saluda 01 ranks #55 of 74 South Carolina districts by per-pupil spending (South Carolina districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,480
Total Enrollment
5
Schools
$12,073
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Saluda 01 operates 5 public schools serving 2,480 students, placing it among the smallest districts in South Carolina. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 combined, 1 high, 1 middle, 1 elementary 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 Saluda County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,073 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 74 South Carolina districts by per-pupil spending. See how South Carolina compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 27.3% local, 55.4% state, and 17.2% 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 49/100, ranked #41 of 73 in South Carolina against a state average of 51, 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 (5 AP courses district-wide), a 379.9:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 13.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 46.8% Hispanic or Latino, 31.9% White, 19.1% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Saluda High, with a diversity index of 65.9/100.
Its largest campus is Saluda High, enrolling 714 students (28% of the district's total enrollment).
Saluda High accounts for 28.3% of all Saluda 01 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Saluda 01-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.
Saluda 01 has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 91.1% 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.
Saluda 01 student-counselor ratio is 380:1 — 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.
Saluda 01 chronic absenteeism rate is 13.8% — 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.