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Detroit, Michigan - 2 schools
At $15,484 per pupil, W-a-Y Academy ranks #119 of 821 Michigan districts by per-pupil spending (Michigan districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
195
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$15,484
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
W-a-Y Academy operates 2 public schools serving 195 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Michigan. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 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 $15,484 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 821 Michigan districts by per-pupil spending. See how Michigan compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 1.1% local, 69.7% state, and 29.2% federal, a state-revenue-heavy mix that insulates the district somewhat from local property-tax volatility, though it ties funding to state budget cycles.
and 83.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 49.5% African American, 47.6% Hispanic or Latino, 3.0% White across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Way Academy Vernor Site, enrolling 135 students (64% of the district's total enrollment).
Way Academy Vernor Site accounts for 64.0% of all W-a-Y Academy student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of W-a-Y Academy a distant remainder — means W-a-Y 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.
W-a-Y Academy has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 96.9% 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 a supermajority of the population — well past the 75% concentration-grant threshold that unlocks extra funding 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.
W-a-Y Academy chronic absenteeism rate is 83.0% — 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.
W-a-Y Academy has 2 schools, including 2 combined. Total enrollment is 195 students.
How much does W-a-Y Academy spend per student?
W-a-Y Academy spends $15,484 per student.
What is the demographic composition of W-a-Y Academy?
W-a-Y Academy students are 49.5% African American, 47.6% Hispanic or Latino, 3.0% White, averaged across 2 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.