The Benton Area School District is a small, rural

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

district in

Columbia County, Pennsylvania Columbia County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,727. Its county seat is Bloomsburg. The county was created on March 22, 1813, from part ...

. Benton Area School District serves the boroughs of Benton and Stillwater and Benton Township, Fishing Creek Township, Jackson Township and Sugarloaf Township. The District encompasses approximately . According to 2000 federal census data, it served a resident population of 5,260. By 2010, the District's population declined to 5,231 people. It is one of eight public school districts operating in Columbia County and is one of the 500 public school districts of Pennsylvania in 2016. According to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, 30.6% of the District's pupils lived at 185% or below the Federal Poverty level as shown by their eligibility for the federal free or reduced price school meal programs in 2012. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

of residents was $16,915 in 2009, while the

median family income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of ...

was $40,669. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the median family income was $49,501 and the United States median family income was $49,445, in 2010. The educational attainment levels for the Benton Area School District population (25 years old and over) were 85.6% high school graduates and 15.9% college graduates. It encompasses . The Benton Area School District operates two schools: Benton Middle/Senior High School (7th–12th grades) and L.R. Appleman Elementary School (K–6th). Benton Area High School students may choose to attend Columbia-Montour Area Vocational-Technical School for training in the vocational trades. The

Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit #16 (CSIU), located in the Milton Industrial Park, Milton, Pennsylvania, was created by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1971 as one of 29 Intermediate Units in the commonwealth. Intermediate units serve ...

16 (CSIU16) provides the district with a wide variety of services like specialized education for disabled students and hearing, speech and visual disability services and professional development for staff and faculty.

Extracurriculars

The district offers a variety of activities, clubs and after school sports programs. Varsity and junior varsity athletic activities are under the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association and the regional Pennsylvania Heartland Athletic Conference.

Sports

The District funds: ;Boys: *

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

- A *

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

- A *

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

- AA *Soccer - A *

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

- AA ;Girls: *Basketball - A *

Field Hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

- A *Golf - AA *Soccer (Fall) - A *

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

- A ;Middle School Sports: ;Boys: *Basketball *Soccer *Wrestling ;Girls: *Basketball *Field Hockey *Soccer According to PIAA directory July 2016

References

{{Columbia County, Pennsylvania School Districts School districts in Columbia County, Pennsylvania