Compiled from official source data by PlainSchools.
7 public K-12 schools in Ponchatoula 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, Ponchatoula has more public-school enrollment than 65% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Ponchatoula's 7 listed schools all sit inside one district, creating a compact governance structure with one budget, board, and reporting chain. That makes citywide comparisons cleaner than in places split across several districts, but it does not make the campuses interchangeable: elementary, middle, and high-school staffing needs differ. The ranked list is best read as variation inside one system rather than competition among separate local authorities.
A full K–12 ladder sits inside the city boundary
Ponchatoula's list includes 3 elementary, 1 middle, and 1 high-school campus, plus 2 combined-grade records. The city average spans every major grade stage, so the ranked table is more informative when read within level than as one interchangeable queue.
Campus spread matters more than the city mean
The 14-point gap between D.C. Reeves Elementary School and Tucker Memorial Elementary School shows the range hidden by Ponchatoula'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 35%
School count
Top 65%
Resource Index average
9th percentile
Teacher staffing
17th percentile
Ponchatoula High School accounts for 33.3% of all Ponchatoula public-school enrollment
That dominant concentration means Ponchatoula-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.
Ponchatoula school enrollment varies 6.1× across entities
Ponchatoula school enrollment ranges from 338 students (lowest) to 2,067 students (highest), a spread of 1,729 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous school portfolio for a city this size. 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.
Ponchatoula operates one school district — a single-district system
Ponchatoula's listed schools share one district boundary, budget authority, and reporting chain. That makes citywide and districtwide governance easier to compare, but it does not make individual campuses uniform: grade configuration, staffing, programs, and student need can still vary materially within the same school district.
Ponchatoula student-teacher ratio is 19.7:1 — 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 Ponchatoula
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.
What do families ask about schools in Ponchatoula?
Which Ponchatoula school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼
D.C. Reeves Elementary School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Ponchatoula schools in this federal-data comparison at 34/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
How many schools are in Ponchatoula, LA? ▼
Ponchatoula has 7 public schools with a total enrollment of 6,201 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 19.7:1.
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.
