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Waelder, Texas - 1 schools
An equity score of 77/100 ranks Waelder Isd #97 of 1044 districts in Texas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,525 per pupil, Waelder Isd ranks #240 of 1202 Texas districts by per-pupil spending (Texas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
290
Total Enrollment
1
Schools
$15,525
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Waelder Isd operates 1 public schools serving 290 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Texas. 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 Gonzales County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,525 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 1202 Texas districts by per-pupil spending. See how Texas compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 47.6% local, 29.8% state, and 22.7% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one. The district's equity score is 77/100, ranked #97 of 1044 in Texas against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 1 schools offering Advanced Placement (3 AP courses district-wide), a 302:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 33.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 85.8% Hispanic or Latino, 7.6% White, 5.0% African American across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Waelder School, enrolling 302 students (100% of the district's total enrollment).
Waelder School accounts for 100.0% of all Waelder Isd student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Waelder Isd a distant remainder — means Waelder Isd-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.
Waelder Isd has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 95.5% 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.
Waelder Isd student-counselor ratio is 302:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
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 Variation between sub-units within Waelder Isd is typically wider than the Waelder Isd-aggregate figure suggests.
Waelder Isd chronic absenteeism rate is 33.8% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.