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Thomaston, Georgia - 4 schools
An equity score of 56/100 ranks Thomaston-Upson County #84 of 216 districts in Georgia (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $13,639 per pupil, Thomaston-Upson County ranks #93 of 219 Georgia districts by per-pupil spending (Georgia districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
4,060
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$13,639
Per-Pupil Spending
High, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Thomaston-Upson County operates 4 public schools serving 4,060 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Georgia. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 high, 1 combined, 1 elementary, 1 middle 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 Upson County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $13,639 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 219 Georgia districts by per-pupil spending. See how Georgia compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 27.8% local, 50.0% state, and 22.2% 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 56/100, ranked #84 of 216 in Georgia against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 4 schools offering Advanced Placement (8 AP courses district-wide), a 371.8:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 24.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 52.6% White, 35.8% African American, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Upson-Lee Middle School, with a diversity index of 59.5/100.
Its largest campus is Upson-Lee High School, enrolling 1,177 students (29% of the district's total enrollment).
Upson-Lee High School accounts for 29.0% of all Thomaston-Upson County student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Thomaston-Upson 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.
Thomaston-Upson County has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 85.7% 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.
Thomaston-Upson County student-counselor ratio is 372:1 — 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.
Thomaston-Upson County chronic absenteeism rate is 24.1% — 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 Thomaston-Upson County is typically wider than the Thomaston-Upson County-aggregate figure suggests.
Thomaston-Upson County has 4 schools, including 1 high, 1 combined, 1 elementary, 1 middle. Total enrollment is 4,060 students.
How much does Thomaston-Upson County spend per student?
Thomaston-Upson County spends $13,639 per student. The district has an equity score of 56/100, ranking #84 in Georgia.
What is the demographic composition of Thomaston-Upson County?
Thomaston-Upson County students are 52.6% White, 35.8% African American, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 0.6% Asian, averaged across 4 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Thomaston-Upson County?
Thomaston-Upson County has an equity score of 56/100, ranking #84 out of 216 districts in Georgia.