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Fairfield, Nebraska - 8 schools
An equity score of 61/100 ranks South Central Nebraska Unified 5 #64 of 200 districts in Nebraska (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $19,203 per pupil, South Central Nebraska Unified 5 ranks #73 of 244 Nebraska districts by per-pupil spending (Nebraska districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
714
Total Enrollment
8
Schools
$19,203
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
South Central Nebraska Unified 5 operates 8 public schools serving 714 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Nebraska. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 combined, 2 high, 2 middle schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly before they move, rent, or enrol. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Clay County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $19,203 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 244 Nebraska districts by per-pupil spending. See how Nebraska compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 74.9% local, 14.6% state, and 10.5% 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 61/100, ranked #64 of 200 in Nebraska against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 382.9:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 19.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Use the school table below to drill into any individual campus for its own demographic and resource profile.
Its largest campus is Sandy Creek Elementary School, enrolling 209 students (29% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Lawrence Early Learning Center, at 33 students, a 6x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Sandy Creek Elementary School accounts for 29.3% of all South Central Nebraska Unified 5 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means South Central Nebraska Unified 5-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.
South Central Nebraska Unified 5 school enrollment varies 6.3× across entities
South Central Nebraska Unified 5 school enrollment ranges from 33 students (lowest) to 209 students (highest), a spread of 176 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.
South Central Nebraska Unified 5 student-counselor ratio is 383:1 — 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.
South Central Nebraska Unified 5 chronic absenteeism rate is 19.0% — 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 South Central Nebraska Unified 5 is typically wider than the South Central Nebraska Unified 5-aggregate figure suggests.
Comparisons are relative to South Central Nebraska Unified 5's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in Nebraska
Top districts in the same state, compare side-by-side for enrollment, spending, and demographics.