While the U.S. is one of the most educated countries in the world, it doesn’t provide the same quality elementary school or secondary school education to all students. In many states, more affluent school districts receive a greater amount of funding per student than poorer districts.
Discrepancies between the rich and poor have been exacerbated even more this year by the COVID-19 pandemic. Low-income students have suffered the greatest “learning loss” due to partial or total remote learning. One contributing factor is that people in low-income districts are less likely to have the technological resources they need.
States that provide equitable funding to all school districts can help prevent poor students from having lower graduation rates, lower rates of pursuing higher education and smaller future incomes than their wealthy peers. The difference is dramatic: College graduates have $524 - $1,112 higher median weekly earnings than people with a high school diploma and no college experience, depending on the degree.
Iowa has the most equitable school districts in the U.S. overall, but some districts within the state are fairer than others. To find out where school funding is distributed most equitably, WalletHub scored 330 districts in Iowa based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil. Read on for the district ranking and a complete description of our methodology.
Note: For visual purposes, we included only the top 7 school districts by enrollment from each category.
Most & Least Equitable School Districts in Iowa
| Rank* | School District | Score | Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools per Pupil | Income by School District |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Davis County Comm School District | 0.04 | $11,057 | $63,511 |
| 2 | West Central Valley Comm School District | 0.05 | $10,694 | $65,496 |
| 3 | Council Bluffs Comm School District | 0.1 | $12,922 | $53,404 |
| 4 | Missouri Valley Comm School District | 0.23 | $10,880 | $64,306 |
| 5 | George-Little Rock Comm School District | 0.32 | $11,748 | $59,924 |
| 6 | Madrid Comm School District | 0.36 | $10,118 | $68,818 |
| 7 | Jesup Comm School District | 0.43 | $9,057 | $74,101 |
| 8 | Central Lyon Comm School District | 0.46 | $11,389 | $61,964 |
| 9 | Keota Comm School District | 0.62 | $10,951 | $64,450 |
| 10 | Calamus-Wheatland Comm School District | 0.64 | $12,017 | $58,661 |
| 11 | Howard-Winneshiek Comm School District | 0.69 | $12,593 | $54,706 |
| 12 | H-L-V Comm School District | 0.73 | $11,437 | $61,875 |
| 13 | Belmond-Klemme Comm School District | 0.75 | $11,942 | $58,211 |
| 14 | Belle Plaine Comm School District | 0.76 | $11,918 | $58,333 |
| 15 | Sumner-Fredericksburg Comm School District | 0.89 | $10,917 | $63,696 |
| 16 | Westwood Comm School District | 1.13 | $10,917 | $63,552 |
| 17 | East Buchanan Comm School District | 1.13 | $10,142 | $67,763 |
| 18 | Mormon Trail Comm School District | 1.2 | $12,611 | $55,774 |
| 19 | Pleasantville Comm School District | 1.26 | $11,047 | $64,323 |
| 20 | Tipton Comm School District | 1.29 | $9,820 | $69,416 |
| 21 | Fremont-Mills Comm School District | 1.36 | $10,053 | $69,792 |
| 22 | Morning Sun Comm School District | 1.52 | $11,258 | $63,333 |
| 23 | East Sac County Comm School District | 1.55 | $11,706 | $59,000 |
| 24 | North Fayette Valley Comm School District | 1.64 | $12,795 | $53,019 |
| 25 | Diagonal Comm School District | 1.65 | $13,173 | $53,000 |
| 26 | Alta-Aurelia Comm School District | 1.69 | $11,156 | $63,992 |
| 27 | Essex Comm School District | 1.78 | $13,132 | $53,301 |
| 28 | Danville Comm School District | 1.8 | $9,824 | $69,079 |
| 29 | Independence Comm School District | 1.81 | $11,018 | $64,816 |
| 30 | West Fork Comm School District | 1.85 | $11,763 | $58,507 |
*1=Most Equitable
Methodology
In order to rank the states with the most and least equitable school districts, WalletHub first scored 12,927 school districts throughout the U.S. based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil.
For expenditures, for each 1 percent above the state's average we removed 1 point from a base score of 50 points for each district. For household income, for each 1 percent above the state's average we added 1 point to a base score of 50 points for each district. The inverse was true for each 1 percent below the state's average.
The final score for each district was calculated by taking the absolute difference between the score for expenditures and the score for household income. We then ranked the districts based on the total score, with the lowest value, representing the most equitable, being ranked 1.
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics.