31 public K-12 schools in Tulare 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, Tulare has more public-school enrollment than 91% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Tulare is among the largest city school systems in this directory by enrollment, but its campuses are divided among 8 districts. That combination matters: citywide averages blend separate budgets, staffing policies, attendance boundaries, and program rules. For a family comparing schools here, the district column is as important as the city average; two nearby campuses may answer to different boards and draw on different F-33 funding pools.
20 of Tulare's 31 listed schools are elementary campuses. That composition means citywide enrollment and staffing averages are influenced more by early-grade operating patterns than by the city's 4 middle and 7 high-school records. Families comparing later grades should rely on those individual rows rather than the all-school mean.
Tulare's reporting schools show 67.7% free-lunch eligibility across measured enrollment, alongside an average 20.3:1 student-teacher ratio. These are separate constraints: one describes the economic context of enrolled students and the other compares student and teacher headcounts. The 70-point gap between Tulare City Community Day and Pleasant Elementary is therefore more useful than the city mean alone. A school with a similar ratio may still report different counselor access, attendance, or gifted-program availability, so open the campus records before drawing conclusions about student support.
Tulare school enrollment ranges from 4 students (lowest) to 1,927 students (highest), a spread of 1,923 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.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data 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 NCES Common Core of Data
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.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data 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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe
| # | School | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Tulare City Community Day | 81 |
| 2. | Tulare Technical Preparatory High | 44 |
| 3. | Sundale Elementary | 42 |
| 4. | Countryside Community Day | 41 |
| 5. | Los Tules Middle | 35 |
| 6. | Liberty Elementary | 34 |
| 7. | Sierra Vista Charter High | 34 |
| 8. | Tulare Western High | 33 |
| 9. | Frank Kohn Elementary | 33 |
| 10. | Mission Oak High | 32 |
| 11. | Tulare Union High | 32 |
| 12. | Waukena Joint Union Elementary | 32 |
| 13. | Oak Valley Elementary | 31 |
| 14. | Cherry Avenue Middle | 31 |
| 15. | Buena Vista Elementary | 31 |
| 16. | Accelerated Charter High | 31 |
| 17. | Tulare Support | 31 |
| 18. | Live Oak Middle | 30 |
| 19. | Lincoln Elementary | 30 |
| 20. | Mulcahy Middle | 29 |
| 21. | Cypress Elementary | 29 |
| 22. | Garden Elementary | 28 |
| 23. | Maple Elementary | 27 |
| 24. | Mission Valley Elementary | 26 |
| 25. | Wilson Elementary | 25 |
| 26. | Alpine Vista Middle | 20 |
| 27. | Alpine Vista | 19 |
| 28. | Palo Verde Elementary | 16 |
| 29. | Heritage Elementary | 15 |
| 30. | Roosevelt Elementary | 13 |
| 31. | Pleasant Elementary | 11 |
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.
Tulare City Community Day has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Tulare schools in this federal-data comparison at 81/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
Tulare has 31 public schools with a total enrollment of 18,061 students. 2 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 20.3:1.
Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in California →
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.
