Thunder Ridge Schools operates 3 public schools serving 177 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Kansas. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 1 high schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage before they move, rent, or enrol. Aggregated across those campuses, enrollment totals 170 pupils using the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is geographically located in Smith County County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $23,221 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, which aggregates every revenue and spending line reported under federal accounting standards. The funding mix is 30.6% local, 61.1% state, and 8.3% federal — a breakdown that matters because districts leaning heavily on local revenue are more exposed to property-tax swings, while higher federal shares typically track Title I concentration. Average teacher compensation clocks in at $108,895 per NCES F-33, a signal of the district's ability to recruit and retain staff against neighbouring districts.
a 60:1 student-counselor ratio that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 25.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 89.5% White, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 1.0% African American across the district's schools.
Thunder Ridge Middle School accounts for 42.4% of all Thunder Ridge Schools student enrollment
That concentration — well above the 8.4% national median for largest-entity share — means Thunder Ridge Schools-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: elementary. 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.
Thunder Ridge Schools student-counselor ratio is 60:1 — 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.
Thunder Ridge Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 25.4% — 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 Thunder Ridge Schools is typically wider than the Thunder Ridge Schools-aggregate figure suggests.