At $11,874 per pupil, Vista Meadows Academy ranks #700 of 812 Michigan districts by per-pupil spending (Michigan districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
103
Total Enrollment
1
Schools
$11,874
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Vista Meadows Academy operates 1 public schools serving 103 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Michigan. 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 Wayne County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $11,874 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 812 Michigan districts by per-pupil spending. See how Michigan compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 1.3% local, 65.4% state, and 33.3% federal, a state-revenue-heavy mix that insulates the district somewhat from local property-tax volatility, though it ties funding to state budget cycles.
a 86:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 48.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 93.0% African American, 3.5% White, 3.5% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Vista Meadows Academy, enrolling 86 students (100% of the district's total enrollment).
Enrollment across the district's NCES-reporting campuses fell 16.5% between 2022-23 and 2023-24 (103 to 86 students), and the student-teacher ratio widened by 6.8 students per teacher despite the decline, per the NCES Common Core of Data annual universe files.
Of the district's $1,515,000 in reported FY2023 expenditures, 38.4% went to instruction, 39.1% to support services, and 12.1% to capital outlay, support-services-heavy relative to typical districts, reflecting spending on transportation, administration, or student services. Figures come from the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey's function-level breakdown, not the aggregate per-pupil figure above.
Vista Meadows Academy accounts for 83.5% of all Vista Meadows Academy student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Vista Meadows Academy a distant remainder — means Vista Meadows Academy-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade band: combined. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how the district allocates programs, capital, or staff. Because it contains a majority of the affected population, enrollment-weighted aggregates will sit closer to this entity's reported fields than to those of smaller peers; an unweighted entity count answers a different question.
Vista Meadows Academy reports 100.0% free-lunch eligibility
The reported share is above 87.5%, so economic need is widespread across the measured student population. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.
Vista Meadows Academy student-counselor ratio is 86:1 — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 Values this far below typical often correlate with unusually small scale or population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se — worth checking whether the underlying denominator is itself an outlier.
Vista Meadows Academy chronic absenteeism rate is 48.8% — 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.
Vista Meadows Academy has 1 school, including 1 combined. Total enrollment is 103 students.
How much does Vista Meadows Academy spend per student?
Vista Meadows Academy spends $11,874 per student.
What is the demographic composition of Vista Meadows Academy?
Vista Meadows Academy students are 93.0% African American, 3.5% White, 3.5% Hispanic or Latino, averaged across 1 school. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.