18 public K-12 schools in Garden City from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
18 public schools ranked by quality score. NCES CCD 2024-25 data.
The highest-ranked of Garden City's 18 public schools is Garden City High School, scoring 38/100, against a city average of 43.3/100. Computed live across every Garden City campus reporting to NCES.
How the Garden City Public-School Landscape Breaks Down
Garden City, KS enrolls 7,032 students across 18 public schools reporting to the National Center for Education Statistics. The average student-teacher ratio across the city is 18.6:1, and the composite quality score, derived from student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted-program availability, and CRDC attendance data, averages 43.3/100. Schools must report at least five campuses in a city to appear in this listing, which is why very small towns may redirect to the broader county or state view.
The most-resourced campus in Garden City on this index is Garden City High School, at 38/100 on the Resource Investment Index with 1,946 enrolled students. What the index does and doesn't measure; click any school below for its full component breakdown.
Garden City spans 1 district, each filing its own NCES F-33 return, per-pupil spending can vary between neighbouring campuses. Sort the table below by enrollment, level, or district; click any school for its full profile.
Garden City High School accounts for 27.7% of all Garden City public-school enrollment
That dominant concentration means Garden City-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade level: High. A dominant campus often anchors a city's program landscape and absorbs a disproportionate share of district capital and staffing decisions. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Garden City school enrollment varies 26× across entities
Garden City school enrollment ranges from 76 students (lowest) to 1,946 students (highest), a spread of 1,870 students. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. Per-school staffing, programme depth, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same city based on enrollment shape, a 200-student magnet runs a different operational model than a 2,000-student comprehensive high school.
Garden City has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 62.7% of the population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch
free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is the federal threshold for Title I funding allocations, established under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015). Eligibility here is approaching the 75% concentration-grant threshold; it does not yet unlock the extra funding tier but sits meaningfully above the baseline 50% majority mark. Regions with eligibility this high typically draw a substantially larger federal funding share relative to their local tax base, which can either offset or reinforce existing gaps depending on allocation policy.
Garden City operates only 1 school district — one of the single most consolidated governance structures in the country
Most Garden City school districts are a single unified district covering the whole city, a structural feature that simplifies inter-school comparison but concentrates policy authority, and the count here is near the floor observed nationally. Consolidation produces narrower variance because resources pool across a large population, but it can also mask intra-school district inequities — sub-school district differences within a single school district are not visible at this aggregation level. Consolidated systems typically rely more heavily on top-down funding formulas than on local revenue variability.
Garden City student-teacher ratio is 18.6:1 — 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 Garden City
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.
The highest-ranked school in Garden City is Garden City High School with a quality score of 38/100. There are 18 public schools in Garden City with 7,032 total students.
How many schools are in Garden City, KS? ▼
Garden City has 18 public schools with a total enrollment of 7,032 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 18.6:1.
Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. Quality scores based on student-teacher ratio,
counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance. Schools must have 5+ in the city to be listed.
Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD). Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.
Read our methodology, which explains how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
