64 public K-12 schools in Des Moines 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, Des Moines has more public-school enrollment than 96% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Des Moines is among the largest city school systems in this directory by enrollment, but its campuses are divided among 4 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.
34 of Des Moines's 64 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 10 middle and 6 high-school records. Families comparing later grades should rely on those individual rows rather than the all-school mean.
The 42-point gap between Virtual Campus and Mckee Elementary School shows the range hidden by Des Moines'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.
Des Moines school enrollment ranges from 109 students (lowest) to 2,364 students (highest), a spread of 2,255 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 Des Moines is typically wider than the Des Moines-aggregate figure suggests.
Showing top 50 of 64 schools.
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.
Virtual Campus has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Des Moines schools in this federal-data comparison at 68/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
Des Moines has 64 public schools with a total enrollment of 32,076 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 14.6:1.
Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Iowa →
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.
