District profile / Tennessee

Polk County

Benton, Tennessee · Public school district · #94 of 122 Tennessee districts by enrollment

Compare with peers

2,160

Students

2024-25 school year

Schools

2024-25 school year

$10,125

Spending per student

FY2020-21 · about the same as the Tennessee median

#94

Size rank in Tennessee

of 122 districts listed

Polk County is a public school district based in Benton, Tennessee, serving 2,160 students in 7 schools. By enrollment it ranks #94 of the 122 Tennessee districts with 1,000 or more students, larger than about 23% of them. Its schools average 309 students each, fewer than the Tennessee median of 467. It spends about $10,125 per student on day-to-day operations, about the state median.

How Polk County compares

Polk CountyTennessee median, districts with 1,000+ students

Spending per student$10,125

Tennessee median $10,059 · about the same · FY2020-21

Instruction spending per student$5,997

Tennessee median $6,268 · about the same · FY2020-21

Students per school309

Tennessee median 467 · 34% below · 2024-25

Spending and staffing

Where the money comes from$24.7 million in revenue · FY2020-21

Federal 17%State 60%Local 22%

Measure	Polk County	Tennessee median	Year
Current spending per student	$10,125	$10,059	FY2020-21
Instruction spending per student	$5,997	$6,268	FY2020-21
Total spending	$23.5 million	n/a	FY2020-21
Total revenue	$24.7 million	n/a	FY2020-21

Spending: NCES school district finance survey (F-33), FY2020-21. Staffing and enrollment: NCES Common Core of Data, 2024-25. Via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal. The Tennessee median compares districts with 1,000 or more students.

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Peer districts in Tennessee

Compare side by side →

District	Students	Schools	Spending per student	Students per teacher	Rank
Fentress CountyJamestown	2,229	6	$10,050	n/a	#93
Polk CountyBenton · this district	2,160	7	$10,125	n/a	#94
Benton CountyCamden	2,150	8	$11,262	n/a	#95
Wayne CountyWaynesboro	2,079	9	$10,398	n/a	#96
Unicoi CountyErwin	2,074	7	$10,440	n/a	#97

Similar-size districts nationally

District	Students	Spending per student	Students per teacher
Carterville CUSD 5Carterville, IL	2,162	$8,680	15.0
West Perry School DistrictElliottsburg, PA	2,161	$14,813	13.8
South Middleton School DistrictBoiling Springs, PA	2,160	$16,102	13.1
Scotia-Glenville Central School DistrictScotia, NY	2,159	$21,451	10.9

Peers are the districts closest in enrollment, so they can still differ in many other ways. Enrollment, school counts and phone numbers are from the NCES Common Core of Data, 2024-25.

Printed from Superintendent's Corner: https://superintendentscorner.com/district-tn-polk-county