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Sterling, Kansas - 2 schools
An equity score of 52/100 ranks Sterling #122 of 250 districts in Kansas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,129 per pupil, Sterling ranks #126 of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending (Kansas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
475
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$15,129
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Sterling operates 2 public schools serving 475 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Kansas. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 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 Rice County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,129 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 285 Kansas districts by per-pupil spending. See how Kansas compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 26.3% local, 67.2% state, and 6.5% 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 52/100, ranked #122 of 250 in Kansas against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 250:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 14.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 92.8% White, 2.0% Hispanic or Latino, 1.6% African American across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Sterling Grade School, enrolling 268 students (54% of the district's total enrollment).
Sterling Grade School accounts for 53.6% of all Sterling student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Sterling a distant remainder — means Sterling-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.
Sterling student-counselor ratio is 250:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
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 Variation between sub-units within Sterling is typically wider than the Sterling-aggregate figure suggests.
Sterling chronic absenteeism rate is 14.6% — 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.