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Lutcher, Louisiana - 6 schools
An equity score of 68/100 ranks St. James Parish #32 of 175 districts in Louisiana (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $22,445 per pupil, St. James Parish ranks #15 of 188 Louisiana districts by per-pupil spending (Louisiana districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
3,537
Total Enrollment
6
Schools
$22,445
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
St. James Parish operates 6 public schools serving 3,537 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Louisiana. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 combined, 2 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 St. James Parish.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $22,445 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 19 of 188 Louisiana districts by per-pupil spending. See how Louisiana compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 72.5% local, 15.6% state, and 11.9% 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 68/100, ranked #32 of 175 in Louisiana against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 429.8:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 5.2% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 64.5% African American, 32.0% White, 1.8% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Gramercy Elementary School, with a diversity index of 52.3/100.
Its largest campus is Lutcher High School, enrolling 908 students (28% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Sixth Ward Elementary School, at 269 students, a 3x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Lutcher High School accounts for 25.7% of all St. James Parish student enrollment
That concentration means St. James Parish-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.
St. James Parish school enrollment varies 3.4× across entities
St. James Parish school enrollment ranges from 269 students (lowest) to 908 students (highest), a spread of 639 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.
St. James Parish has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 57.1% 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). 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.
St. James Parish student-counselor ratio is 430:1 — 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.
St. James Parish chronic absenteeism rate is 5.2% — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 Values this far below typical often correlate with unusually small scale or population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se — worth checking whether the underlying denominator is itself an outlier.
St. James Parish has 6 schools, including 4 combined, 2 elementary. Total enrollment is 3,537 students.
How much does St. James Parish spend per student?
St. James Parish spends $22,445 per student. The district has an equity score of 68/100, ranking #32 in Louisiana.
What is the demographic composition of St. James Parish?
St. James Parish students are 64.5% African American, 32.0% White, 1.8% Hispanic or Latino, 0.2% Asian, averaged across 6 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for St. James Parish?
St. James Parish has an equity score of 68/100, ranking #32 out of 175 districts in Louisiana.