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Livingston, Alabama - 4 schools
An equity score of 82/100 ranks Sumter County #7 of 146 districts in Alabama (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,048 per pupil, Sumter County ranks #9 of 146 Alabama districts by per-pupil spending (Alabama districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,006
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$16,048
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Sumter County operates 4 public schools serving 1,006 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Alabama. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 combined, 1 high 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 Sumter County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,048 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 15 of 146 Alabama districts by per-pupil spending. See how Alabama compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 25.4% local, 54.5% state, and 20.2% 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 82/100, ranked #7 of 146 in Alabama against a state average of 51, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 4 schools offering Advanced Placement (3 AP courses district-wide), a 188:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 43.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 97.7% African American, 0.6% Hispanic or Latino, 0.3% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Sumter Central High School, with a diversity index of 5.7/100.
Its largest campus is Sumter Central High School, enrolling 526 students (52% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Kinterbish Junior High School, at 114 students, a 5x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Sumter Central High School accounts for 51.8% of all Sumter County student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Sumter County a distant remainder — means Sumter County-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.
Sumter County school enrollment varies 4.6× across entities
Sumter County school enrollment ranges from 114 students (lowest) to 526 students (highest), a spread of 412 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.
Sumter County has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 87.3% 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 — including this one — 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.
Sumter County student-counselor ratio is 188:1 — 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.
Sumter County chronic absenteeism rate is 43.5% — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 above typical often signal acute resource constraints or a structurally different scale than most peers — worth reading alongside the underlying counts, not the ratio alone.
Sumter County has 4 schools, including 1 high, 3 combined. Total enrollment is 1,006 students.
How much does Sumter County spend per student?
Sumter County spends $16,048 per student. The district has an equity score of 82/100, ranking #7 in Alabama.
What is the demographic composition of Sumter County?
Sumter County students are 97.7% African American, 0.6% Hispanic or Latino, 0.3% Asian, 0.2% White, averaged across 4 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Sumter County?
Sumter County has an equity score of 82/100, ranking #7 out of 146 districts in Alabama.