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Smithfield, Rhode Island - 5 schools
An equity score of 32/100 ranks Smithfield #46 of 53 districts in Rhode Island (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $17,677 per pupil, Smithfield ranks #50 of 60 Rhode Island districts by per-pupil spending (Rhode Island districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,415
Total Enrollment
5
Schools
$17,677
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Smithfield operates 5 public schools serving 2,415 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Rhode Island. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle, 1 combined 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 Providence County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $17,677 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 60 Rhode Island districts by per-pupil spending. See how Rhode Island compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 72.1% local, 20.5% state, and 7.4% 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 32/100, ranked #46 of 53 in Rhode Island against a state average of 51, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 5 schools offering Advanced Placement (11 AP courses district-wide), a 216.7:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 19.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 81.5% White, 9.8% Hispanic or Latino, 1.8% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Old County Road School, with a diversity index of 38.3/100.
Its largest campus is Smithfield High School, enrolling 729 students (31% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Old County Road School, at 228 students, a 3x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Smithfield High School accounts for 30.2% of all Smithfield student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Smithfield-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.
Smithfield school enrollment varies 3.2× across entities
Smithfield school enrollment ranges from 228 students (lowest) to 729 students (highest), a spread of 501 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.
Smithfield student-counselor ratio is 217:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Smithfield chronic absenteeism rate is 19.6% — 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 Smithfield is typically wider than the Smithfield-aggregate figure suggests.