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Gary, Indiana - 1 schools
An equity score of 52/100 ranks Thea Bowman Leadership Academy #174 of 373 districts in Indiana (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $10,602 per pupil, Thea Bowman Leadership Academy ranks #320 of 406 Indiana districts by per-pupil spending (Indiana districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
840
Total Enrollment
1
Schools
$10,602
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Thea Bowman Leadership Academy operates 1 public schools serving 840 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Indiana. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 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 Lake County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $10,602 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 406 Indiana districts by per-pupil spending. See how Indiana compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 1.2% local, 62.0% state, and 36.8% 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 #174 of 373 in Indiana against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 386.5:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 49.9% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 92.8% African American, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools.
Thea Bowman Leadership Academy accounts for 92.0% of all Thea Bowman Leadership Academy student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Thea Bowman Leadership Academy a distant remainder — means Thea Bowman Leadership Academy-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.
Thea Bowman Leadership Academy has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 70.1% 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). Eligibility here is approaching the 75% concentration-grant threshold; it does not yet unlock the extra funding tier but sits meaningfully above the baseline 50% majority mark. 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.
Thea Bowman Leadership Academy student-counselor ratio is 387:1 — 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.
Thea Bowman Leadership Academy chronic absenteeism rate is 49.9% — 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.
Comparisons are relative to Thea Bowman Leadership Academy's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in Indiana
Top districts in the same state, compare side-by-side for enrollment, spending, and demographics.
How many schools are in Thea Bowman Leadership Academy?
Thea Bowman Leadership Academy has 1 school, including 1 combined. Total enrollment is 840 students.
How much does Thea Bowman Leadership Academy spend per student?
Thea Bowman Leadership Academy spends $10,602 per student. The district has an equity score of 52/100, ranking #174 in Indiana.
What is the demographic composition of Thea Bowman Leadership Academy?
Thea Bowman Leadership Academy students are 92.8% African American, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, averaged across 1 school. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Thea Bowman Leadership Academy?
Thea Bowman Leadership Academy has an equity score of 52/100, ranking #174 out of 373 districts in Indiana.