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.
Nebraska has the 13th 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 244 districts in Nebraska 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 Nebraska
| Rank* | School District | Score | Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools per Pupil | Income by School District |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blue Hill Public Schools | 0.05 | $16,062 | $58,304 |
| 2 | Arlington Public Schools | 0.35 | $11,294 | $75,817 |
| 3 | Logan View Public Schools | 0.36 | $14,377 | $64,337 |
| 4 | Valentine Community Schools | 0.57 | $16,549 | $56,125 |
| 5 | Centura Public Schools | 0.72 | $14,418 | $64,821 |
| 6 | Friend Public Schools | 0.8 | $15,550 | $60,655 |
| 7 | Westside Community Schools | 0.85 | $13,291 | $69,094 |
| 8 | Diller-Odell Public Schools | 0.88 | $17,916 | $51,895 |
| 9 | Mc Cool Junction Public Schs | 1.03 | $14,316 | $64,167 |
| 10 | Stuart Public Schools | 1.13 | $15,397 | $61,417 |
| 11 | Hay Springs Public Schools | 1.26 | $16,174 | $57,115 |
| 12 | Creighton Community Public Schools | 1.39 | $17,641 | $51,579 |
| 13 | Bellevue Public Schools | 1.41 | $11,298 | $75,176 |
| 14 | O'Neill Public Schools | 1.47 | $14,500 | $63,224 |
| 15 | Tri County Public Schools | 1.76 | $16,244 | $58,636 |
| 16 | Umo N Ho N Nation Public Schs | 1.9 | $24,505 | $27,969 |
| 17 | Newman Grove Public Schools | 2.08 | $17,489 | $54,188 |
| 18 | Elm Creek Public Schools | 2.22 | $13,980 | $64,716 |
| 19 | Laurel-Concord-Coleridge School | 2.25 | $16,355 | $58,510 |
| 20 | Arthur County Schools | 2.32 | $20,472 | $43,229 |
| 21 | Lakeview Community Schools | 2.35 | $12,993 | $71,086 |
| 22 | Wauneta-Palisade Public Schs | 2.38 | $17,611 | $51,103 |
| 23 | Kimball Public Schools | 2.45 | $17,176 | $52,682 |
| 24 | Creek Valley Schools | 2.71 | $19,134 | $48,438 |
| 25 | Rock County Public Schools | 2.91 | $16,145 | $56,250 |
| 26 | Lewiston Consolidated Schools | 3.08 | $19,613 | $46,875 |
| 27 | Wood River Rural Schools | 3.08 | $15,546 | $58,375 |
| 28 | Randolph Public Schools | 3.12 | $15,956 | $56,827 |
| 29 | Hershey Public Schools | 3.52 | $13,174 | $66,948 |
| 30 | South Central Nebraska Unified 5 | 3.81 | $16,765 | $53,407 |
*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.