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Westerly, Rhode Island - 6 schools
An equity score of 71/100 ranks Westerly #7 of 53 districts in Rhode Island (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $24,106 per pupil, Westerly ranks #7 of 60 Rhode Island districts by per-pupil spending (Rhode Island districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,296
Total Enrollment
6
Schools
$24,106
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Westerly operates 6 public schools serving 2,296 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Rhode Island. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 elementary, 1 high, 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 Washington County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $24,106 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 60 Rhode Island districts by per-pupil spending. See how Rhode Island compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 73.3% local, 19.6% state, and 7.1% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 71/100, ranked #7 of 53 in Rhode Island against a state average of 51, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 6 schools offering Advanced Placement (17 AP courses district-wide), a 644.5:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 22.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 75.7% White, 10.5% Hispanic or Latino, 2.9% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Westerly Inclusion Preschool P, with a diversity index of 52.7/100.
Its largest campus is Westerly High School, enrolling 650 students (31% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Westerly Inclusion Preschool P, at 87 students, a 7x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Westerly High School accounts for 28.3% of all Westerly student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Westerly-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.
Westerly school enrollment varies 7.5× across entities
Westerly school enrollment ranges from 87 students (lowest) to 650 students (highest), a spread of 563 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous campus portfolio, most districts have a wider mix of school sizes. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Westerly student-counselor ratio is 645:1 — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 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.
Westerly chronic absenteeism rate is 22.6% — 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 Westerly is typically wider than the Westerly-aggregate figure suggests.