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Somerset, Kentucky - 3 schools
An equity score of 35/100 ranks Somerset Independent #124 of 171 districts in Kentucky (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,411 per pupil, Somerset Independent ranks #114 of 171 Kentucky districts by per-pupil spending (Kentucky districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,615
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$12,411
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Somerset Independent operates 3 public schools serving 1,615 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Kentucky. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 combined, 1 high, 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 Pulaski County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,411 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 171 Kentucky districts by per-pupil spending. See how Kentucky compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 32.5% local, 47.9% state, and 19.6% 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 35/100, ranked #124 of 171 in Kentucky against a state average of 50, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 3 schools offering Advanced Placement (6 AP courses district-wide), a 362.3:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 27.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 81.0% White, 10.6% Hispanic or Latino, 2.8% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Meece Middle School, with a diversity index of 35.0/100.
Its largest campus is Hopkins Elementary School, enrolling 750 students (43% of the district's total enrollment).
Hopkins Elementary School accounts for 42.6% of all Somerset Independent student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Somerset Independent-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.
Somerset Independent has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 62.2% 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.
Somerset Independent student-counselor ratio is 362:1 — 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.
Somerset Independent chronic absenteeism rate is 27.1% — 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 Somerset Independent is typically wider than the Somerset Independent-aggregate figure suggests.