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Scottsdale, Arizona - 8 schools
An equity score of 26/100 ranks Cave Creek Unified District (4244) #287 of 437 districts in Arizona (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $8,436 per pupil, Cave Creek Unified District (4244) ranks #546 of 634 Arizona districts by per-pupil spending (Arizona districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
4,499
Total Enrollment
8
Schools
$8,436
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Cave Creek Unified District (4244) operates 8 public schools serving 4,499 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Arizona. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 elementary, 3 combined, 1 middle schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly before they move, rent, or enrol. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Maricopa County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $8,436 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 634 Arizona districts by per-pupil spending. See how Arizona compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 65.6% local, 24.9% state, and 9.4% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 26/100, ranked #287 of 437 in Arizona against a state average of 38, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 8 schools offering Advanced Placement (51 AP courses district-wide), a 443.7:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 54.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 76.0% White, 16.4% Hispanic or Latino, 1.5% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Desert Willow Elementary School, with a diversity index of 46.0/100.
Its largest campus is Cactus Shadows High School, enrolling 1,362 students (36% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Cave Creek Academy of Excellence, at 19 students, a 72x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Cactus Shadows High School accounts for 30.3% of all Cave Creek Unified District (4244) student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Cave Creek Unified District (4244)-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: combined. A single dominant campus often anchors a district's program offerings and staffing patterns; the share helps explain why district-wide averages may not reflect the typical neighbourhood-school experience. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Cave Creek Unified District (4244) school enrollment varies 72× across entities
Cave Creek Unified District (4244) school enrollment ranges from 19 students (lowest) to 1,362 students (highest), a spread of 1,343 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Cave Creek Unified District (4244) student-counselor ratio is 444:1 — high (typically associated with staffing constraints that limit per-student counselor time; CRDC data shows higher ratios cluster in larger urban systems)
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Cave Creek Unified District (4244) chronic absenteeism rate is 54.4% — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Values this far above typical often signal acute resource constraints or a structurally different scale than most peers — worth reading alongside the underlying counts, not the ratio alone.
Comparisons are relative to Cave Creek Unified District (4244)'s own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in Arizona
Top districts in the same state, compare side-by-side for enrollment, spending, and demographics.
How many schools are in Cave Creek Unified District (4244)?
Cave Creek Unified District (4244) has 8 schools, including 3 combined, 1 middle, 4 elementary. Total enrollment is 4,499 students.
How much does Cave Creek Unified District (4244) spend per student?
Cave Creek Unified District (4244) spends $8,436 per student. The district has an equity score of 26/100, ranking #287 in Arizona.
What is the demographic composition of Cave Creek Unified District (4244)?
Cave Creek Unified District (4244) students are 76.0% White, 16.4% Hispanic or Latino, 1.5% Asian, 0.9% African American, averaged across 8 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Cave Creek Unified District (4244)?
Cave Creek Unified District (4244) has an equity score of 26/100, ranking #287 out of 437 districts in Arizona.