20 public K-12 schools in Decatur from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
National city placement
According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Decatur has more public-school enrollment than 79% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Decatur sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.
11 of Decatur's 20 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.
The 28-point gap between Walter Jackson Elementary School and Austin High School shows the range hidden by Decatur's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.
Decatur school enrollment ranges from 37 students (lowest) to 999 students (highest), a spread of 962 students. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
The reported share sits between 62.5% and 75%, above a simple majority but below the highest descriptive band used here. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Variation between sub-units within Decatur is typically wider than the Decatur-aggregate figure suggests.
| # | School | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Walter Jackson Elementary School | 56 |
| 2. | Leon Sheffield Magnet Elementary School | 54 |
| 3. | Eastwood Elementary School | 54 |
| 4. | Benjamin Davis Elementary School | 48 |
| 5. | Decatur High Developmental | 48 |
| 6. | Julian Harris Elementary School | 47 |
| 7. | Woodmeade Elementary School | 46 |
| 8. | Austin Junior High School | 45 |
| 9. | Priceville Junior High School | 45 |
| 10. | Austin Middle School | 44 |
| 11. | Frances Nungester Elementary School | 42 |
| 12. | West Decatur Elementary School | 42 |
| 13. | Austinville Elementary School | 41 |
| 14. | Chestnut Grove Elementary School | 41 |
| 15. | Decatur Middle School | 40 |
| 16. | Priceville High School | 40 |
| 17. | Oak Park Elementary School | 39 |
| 18. | Bankscaddell Elementary School | 38 |
| 19. | Decatur High School | 32 |
| 20. | Austin High School | 28 |
Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.
Walter Jackson Elementary School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Decatur schools in this federal-data comparison at 56/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
Decatur has 20 public schools with a total enrollment of 9,622 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 17:1.
Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Alabama →
Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.
