Little Rock school statistics at a glance
Little Rock school statistics show a district that is large enough to matter citywide, but still structured around a manageable set of schools, staffing patterns, and budget decisions. The numbers from the latest district report card and community report make the picture easy to read: enrollment is substantial, spending is well above the state-average figure shown in the report card, and the district serves a student body with a high share of low-income students.
Fast facts
- 19,952 students were enrolled in the 2023-2024 District Report Card (ADE My School Info District Report Card 2023-2024).
- The district reported an average class size of 17 and 13 average years of teaching experience (ADE My School Info District Report Card 2023-2024).
- District-average per-pupil spending was $14,628, compared with a state-average per-pupil spending figure of $12,817 shown alongside it (ADE My School Info District Report Card 2023-2024).
- Little Rock School District reported 15% English learners, 72% low-income students, and 16% students eligible for special education (ADE My School Info District Report Card 2023-2024).
- The district’s 2023-2024 Community Report listed $339,317,926 in total revenue and $465,678,612 in total expenses (LRSD 2024 Community Report).
Key takeaways
- The district’s spending profile is not just large, it is operationally complex, with major line items in instruction, facilities, and debt service (LRSD 2024 Community Report).
- The district describes a broad system of schools and centers, including elementary, middle, high school, early childhood, and alternative programs (Little Rock School District About page).
- A sizable volunteer network and partner base appears to play an active role in the district ecosystem, with 709,269 total volunteer hours and 239 Partners in Education listed in the 2023-2024 Community Report (LRSD 2024 Community Report).
- Several named schools posted strong recognition in the community reports, including Central High School and Parkview Magnet High School (LRSD 2023 Community Report).
Table of contents
- Little Rock school district size and enrollment
- What the student profile looks like
- How the district spends money
- School counts and program coverage
- Academic and ranking signals
- Participation and testing trends
- What the numbers suggest for families
Little Rock school district size and enrollment
The starting point for understanding Little Rock school statistics is scale. The 2023-2024 District Report Card lists 19,952 students enrolled (ADE My School Info District Report Card 2023-2024), while the district About page lists enrollment at 21,200 (Little Rock School District About page). Those figures do not come from the same source, but together they show a system serving roughly twenty thousand students.
That size matters because it affects everything that follows: staffing, transportation, budget allocation, and how many schools and programs the district has to support. A district of this scale does not behave like a small suburban system. It has to manage a wide mix of grade spans, academic needs, and facilities needs at the same time.
At a glance: size-related numbers
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment in District Report Card | 19,952 | ADE My School Info District Report Card 2023-2024 |
| Enrollment on About page | 21,200 | Little Rock School District About page |
| Schools and centers | 48 | Little Rock School District About page |
| Employees | approximately 3,583 | Little Rock School District About page |
| Annual budget listed on About page | approximately $360 million | Little Rock School District About page |
The employee count listed on the About page, approximately 3,583 employees (Little Rock School District About page), also reinforces the scale. A district that size has to coordinate not just instruction, but logistics, student services, facilities, and support functions across dozens of sites.
What the student profile looks like
Little Rock school statistics are most revealing when you look at the student composition alongside the enrollment count. The 2023-2024 District Report Card shows a district serving a population with substantial support needs and wide variation in student background.
Student composition highlights
- 15% English learners (ADE My School Info District Report Card 2023-2024).
- 72% low-income students (ADE My School Info District Report Card 2023-2024).
- 16% students eligible to receive special education (ADE My School Info District Report Card 2023-2024).
Those shares matter because they shape staffing, intervention programs, classroom support, and family engagement work. In a district like this, student services are not a side function. They are part of the core operating model.
Why this matters
- A higher share of English learners often means more emphasis on language support, translation, and instructional differentiation.
- A large low-income student population can raise demand for wraparound support, meal programs, transportation reliability, and after-school access.
- Special education eligibility at 16% suggests a meaningful need for individualized services and compliance-heavy operational planning (ADE My School Info District Report Card 2023-2024).
The district’s class size and teacher experience figures help balance that picture. An average class size of 17 and 13 average years of teaching experience suggest an environment where staffing quality and class management remain central to the student experience (ADE My School Info District Report Card 2023-2024).
How the district spends money
If you want to understand Little Rock school statistics at a deeper level, the budget numbers are where the story gets concrete. The 2023-2024 Community Report shows both the revenue structure and the expense structure, and the gap between them is notable.
Revenue and expense snapshot
| Category | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Local/county revenue | $210,472,760 | LRSD 2024 Community Report |
| State revenue | $79,002,391 | LRSD 2024 Community Report |
| Federal revenue | $48,714,053 | LRSD 2024 Community Report |
| Other revenue | $1,128,722 | LRSD 2024 Community Report |
| Total revenue | $339,317,926 | LRSD 2024 Community Report |
| Total expenses | $465,678,612 | LRSD 2024 Community Report |
| Expense per pupil | $23,536 | LRSD 2024 Community Report |
The largest single revenue source listed is local/county revenue at $210,472,760 (LRSD 2024 Community Report), followed by state revenue at $79,002,391 and federal revenue at $48,714,053. That mix suggests the district depends heavily on local support while also drawing substantial state and federal funds.
The expense side is even more striking. The district lists $465,678,612 in total expenses versus $339,317,926 in total revenue (LRSD 2024 Community Report). The report also lists $23,536 in expense per pupil. Those figures are not just abstract finance numbers; they frame how much the district is spending to deliver services across its schools.
Major expense categories
- Student instruction: $255,120,973 (LRSD 2024 Community Report).
- Instructional support: $25,486,615 (LRSD 2024 Community Report).
- Transportation: $15,918,262 (LRSD 2024 Community Report).
- Facilities: $149,067,802 (LRSD 2024 Community Report).
- Debt service: $20,084,960 (LRSD 2024 Community Report).
Among those categories, instruction is the biggest line item, which is what most readers would expect. But facilities spending is also extremely large at $149,067,802 (LRSD 2024 Community Report). That is a reminder that a district with many campuses has to maintain a physical footprint as well as a teaching program.
A few budget takeaways
- The district’s 46.4 mills tax rate appears in the Community Report, showing the local tax context behind the revenue structure (LRSD 2024 Community Report).
- The reported average teacher salary of $69,960 and first-year teacher salary of $50,000 help anchor staffing costs in the broader budget picture (LRSD 2024 Community Report).
- The reported 709,269 volunteer hours and 239 Partners in Education suggest the district is also supported by a wide community network beyond formal funding streams (LRSD 2024 Community Report).
School counts and program coverage
Little Rock school statistics also show a district that is not concentrated in one or two school types. The About page lists 48 schools and centers with a broad distribution across grade levels and program types (Little Rock School District About page).
School breakdown
| Type | Count | Source |
|---|---|---|
| High schools | 5 | Little Rock School District About page |
| Middle schools | 8 | Little Rock School District About page |
| Elementary schools | 25 | Little Rock School District About page |
| Early childhood centers | 6 | Little Rock School District About page |
| Alternative school | 1 | Little Rock School District About page |
| Accelerated learning center | 1 | Little Rock School District About page |
| Career-technical center | 1 | Little Rock School District About page |
| Adult education center | 1 | Little Rock School District About page |
That spread matters for families because it shows the district is built to serve multiple age bands and multiple student pathways. It is not just a K-12 elementary-middle-high chain. It also includes early childhood, alternative, career-technical, and adult education options (Little Rock School District About page).
What the mix suggests
- 25 elementary schools indicate the district’s footprint is heavily shaped by neighborhood-level access (Little Rock School District About page).
- 8 middle schools and 5 high schools show a stepped progression as students move through grade bands (Little Rock School District About page).
- The presence of an adult education center points to a broader community role, not just a traditional-age student mission (Little Rock School District About page).
Academic and ranking signals
The community reports also provide a few useful ranking signals, especially for schools that tend to matter most in district perception.
Notable school rankings
- Central High School ranked #15 of 277 in U.S. News and World Report rankings and #5 of 50 in another ranking view shown in the 2023 Community Report (LRSD 2023 Community Report).
- Parkview Magnet High School ranked #39 of 277 and #9 of 50 in the same report (LRSD 2023 Community Report).
- In the district ranking list shown in the 2023 Community Report, Forest Park Elementary ranked #8, Jefferson Elementary ranked #13, Don Roberts Elementary ranked #21, and Forest Heights STEM Academy ranked #59 (LRSD 2023 Community Report).
These rankings should be read carefully, because they come from report-specific contexts rather than a single universal league table. Still, they give a sense of where the district is strongest in public-facing performance signals.
A quick ranking summary
| School | Ranking shown | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Central High School | #15 of 277 | LRSD 2023 Community Report |
| Parkview Magnet High School | #39 of 277 | LRSD 2023 Community Report |
| Central High School | #5 of 50 | LRSD 2023 Community Report |
| Parkview Magnet High School | #9 of 50 | LRSD 2023 Community Report |
| Forest Park Elementary | #8 | LRSD 2023 Community Report |
| Jefferson Elementary | #13 | LRSD 2023 Community Report |
| Don Roberts Elementary | #21 | LRSD 2023 Community Report |
| Forest Heights STEM Academy | #59 | LRSD 2023 Community Report |
The main pattern here is that Little Rock’s public profile is not built around one school alone. Several campuses appear in the district’s own highlighted ranking lists, which points to distributed pockets of strength rather than a single standout site.
Participation and testing trends
One of the more useful ways to read Little Rock school statistics is through testing participation. The district’s LTG report provides counts and participation percentages for both ELA and Math over several years, which makes the trend easy to compare.
ELA participation and expected testers
| Year | Expected to test | Participation | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 1,117 | 97.91% | ADE My School Info LTG report |
| 2019 | 1,225 | 98.74% | ADE My School Info LTG report |
| 2021 | 892 | 80.10% | ADE My School Info LTG report |
| 2022 | 1,106 | 96.66% | ADE My School Info LTG report |
| 2023 | 1,072 | 97.47% | ADE My School Info LTG report |
| 2024 | 979 | 98.18% | ADE My School Info LTG report |
Math participation and expected testers
| Year | Expected to test | Participation | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 1,117 | 97.75% | ADE My School Info LTG report |
| 2019 | 1,224 | 98.66% | ADE My School Info LTG report |
| 2021 | 903 | 81.21% | ADE My School Info LTG report |
| 2022 | 1,106 | 96.25% | ADE My School Info LTG report |
| 2023 | 1,074 | 97.55% | ADE My School Info LTG report |
| 2024 | 755 | 98.25% | ADE My School Info LTG report |
The most notable pattern is the dip in 2021, when ELA participation fell to 80.10% and Math to 81.21% (ADE My School Info LTG report). After that, both subjects returned to the high-ninety-percent range in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Why the testing data matters
- High participation rates suggest the district is able to get most expected students into the testing pipeline in normal years.
- The 2021 dip stands out as an outlier within the sequence and should be read as a break in the pattern rather than the pattern itself.
- The 2024 expected tester count is lower in Math at 755 than in ELA at 979, which may reflect different grade configurations or student groupings in the report structure (ADE My School Info LTG report).
What the numbers suggest for families
For families comparing districts, Little Rock school statistics point to a system with three defining traits.
1. It is big enough to offer options
With 48 schools and centers and a mix of elementary, middle, high school, early childhood, alternative, career-technical, and adult education offerings, the district has breadth (Little Rock School District About page).
2. It serves a high-need student population
The combination of 72% low-income students, 15% English learners, and 16% special education eligibility means the district is working with substantial student-support demands (ADE My School Info District Report Card 2023-2024).
3. It invests heavily in operations and staffing
The budget, staffing, and expense figures show a system that spends heavily on instruction and facilities while maintaining a large workforce, a broad volunteer base, and a network of partner organizations (LRSD 2024 Community Report; Little Rock School District About page).
For readers who want the short version, the data says this: Little Rock School District is large, layered, and heavily resourced, with clear signs of districtwide complexity and multiple points of academic and operational strength. The most useful lens is not one number by itself, but how enrollment, staffing, spending, and testing all fit together in the same district profile.