Here’s The Best School District In Indiana: Report

ACROSS INDIANA -- A new report has ranked the best school district in Indiana, and the answer may surprise you.

The website 24/7 Wall St., a Delaware corporation that publishes financial news and commentary, sifted through various school data to determine the best school district in every state.

In Indiana, West Lafayette Community School Corporation in Tippecanoe County topped the list. The district has 2,104 students and spends $11,266 per student, the analysis found. The high school graduation rate is 92.0 percent and 68.7 percent of adults have a bachelor’s degree.

The company evaluated the districts by creating an index based on data in the following categories:

• child poverty
• spending per student
• graduation rate
• teachers per student
• percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree
• preschool enrollment
• Advanced Placement enrollment

Several school districts in the U.S. spend more than $50,000 per student on education each year, 24/7 Wall St. said, but others spend less than $2,000 per student.

“That difference in spending contributes to major disparities in student outcomes throughout the country,” the authors wrote. “The majority of a school’s budget is spent on staff and teacher salaries. A school that is able to attract the best teachers can give their students a major advantage.”

Indeed, wealthier areas often reap those rewards.

Local sources, including property taxes, account for about 44 percent of all school funding in the U.S. This means most of the best school districts are located in affluent counties where the majority of households earn more than double that of a typical American household.

In Tippecanoe County, which includes that school district, the median household income from 2012-2016 was $47,406 — much higher than the national average of $55,322. Furthermore, the poverty rate in Tippecanoe County was 17.6 percent compared to the national average of 12.7 percent.

The nationwide rankings report, published on Monday, follows a January report from the same site that found Indiana ranked 21 in the country for best schools.
Here’s a breakdown of schools in Indiana, according to 24/7 Wall St.:

• High school graduation rate: 86.8 percent (19th highest)
• Public school spending: $1,342 per pupil (21st lowest)
• 8th grade NAEP proficiency: 38.7 percent (math) 37.1 percent (reading)
• Adults with at least a bachelor’s degree: 25.6 percent (9th lowest)
• Adults 25-64 with incomes at or above national median: 48.5 percent (18th lowest)

Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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