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Mattawa, Washington - 8 schools
An equity score of 69/100 ranks Wahluke School District #48 of 238 districts in Washington (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $17,228 per pupil, Wahluke School District ranks #153 of 309 Washington districts by per-pupil spending (Washington districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,536
Total Enrollment
8
Schools
$17,228
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Wahluke School District operates 8 public schools serving 2,536 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Washington. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 elementary, 2 high, 2 combined, 1 middle schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly before they move, rent, or enrol. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Grant County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $17,228 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 309 Washington districts by per-pupil spending. See how Washington compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 6.1% local, 71.4% state, and 22.5% 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 69/100, ranked #48 of 238 in Washington against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 184:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 12.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 98.5% Hispanic or Latino, 1.2% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Saddle Mountain Elementary, with a diversity index of 7.7/100.
Its largest campus is Wahluke High School, enrolling 750 students (31% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Developmental Pre-School, at 10 students, a 75x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Wahluke High School accounts for 29.6% of all Wahluke School District student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Wahluke School District-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.
Wahluke School District school enrollment varies 75× across entities
Wahluke School District school enrollment ranges from 10 students (lowest) to 750 students (highest), a spread of 740 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Wahluke School District has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 84.4% 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.
Wahluke School District student-counselor ratio is 184:1 — 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.
Wahluke School District chronic absenteeism rate is 12.8% — low (typically associated with lower-than-average attendance disruption; districts in this range often have attendance interventions, robust transportation, or smaller catchments that reduce barriers)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.