Compiled from official source data by PlainSchools.
15 public K-12 schools in Tolleson from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Tolleson has more public-school enrollment than 84% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Tolleson's average Resource Investment Index falls in the lower portion of the 4,487-city comparison set. The index is a resource snapshot, not an academic grade: it reflects the federal staffing, counselor, gifted-program, and attendance fields available for local campuses. The most useful next step is to open the individual schools below and identify which component is pulling each score down, because the same city average can hide very different campus-level constraints.
The listed grade span is structurally narrow
Tolleson's 15 listed schools do not form a conventional mix of elementary, middle, and high-school campuses. The missing or thin grade bands make all-school city averages less representative of a typical K–12 pathway; district boundaries and nearby-city options may matter more for the grades not well represented here.
Campus spread matters more than the city mean
The 58-point gap between Tolleson Virtual Academy and Arts Academy at Estrella Mountain shows the range hidden by Tolleson'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.
City enrollment
Top 16%
School count
Top 23%
Resource Index average
13th percentile
Teacher staffing
14th percentile
Tolleson Union High School accounts for 23.0% of all Tolleson public-school enrollment
That concentration means Tolleson-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.
Tolleson school enrollment varies 2648× across entities
Tolleson school enrollment ranges from 1 students (lowest) to 2,648 students (highest), a spread of 2,647 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. 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.
The reported share clears the 50% majority mark. 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.
Tolleson operates 6 school districts — among the most fragmented governance structures in the country
Each school district has independent budgeting, hiring, and service delivery authority. The fragmentation reflects historical patterns of inter-municipal boundary lines that pre-date modern city growth, students in different parts of the same city can attend different districts with different per-pupil spending, calendars, and graduation requirements. Per-region variation is largest in fragmented systems because each school district sets its own budget, contracts, and priorities without higher-level coordination above the regulatory floor.
Tolleson student-teacher ratio is 20.4:1 — high (typically associated with larger urban scale or staffing constraints that have widened the headcount gap)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Tolleson
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.
Which Tolleson school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼
Tolleson Virtual Academy has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Tolleson schools in this federal-data comparison at 73/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
How many schools are in Tolleson, AZ? ▼
Tolleson has 15 public schools with a total enrollment of 11,528 students. 1 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 20.4:1.
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.
