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Denison, Texas - 9 schools
An equity score of 36/100 ranks Denison Isd #746 of 1044 districts in Texas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $11,945 per pupil, Denison Isd ranks #796 of 1202 Texas districts by per-pupil spending (Texas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
4,868
Total Enrollment
9
Schools
$11,945
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Denison Isd operates 9 public schools serving 4,868 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Texas. The school portfolio breaks down into 5 combined, 2 high, 1 middle, 1 elementary 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 Grayson County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $11,945 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 1202 Texas districts by per-pupil spending. See how Texas compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 48.0% local, 35.9% state, and 16.1% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one. The district's equity score is 36/100, ranked #746 of 1044 in Texas against a state average of 50, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 9 schools offering Advanced Placement (15 AP courses district-wide), a 361.1:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 30.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 48.6% White, 27.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Houston El, with a diversity index of 71.4/100.
Its largest campus is Denison H S, enrolling 1,351 students (27% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Pathways H S, at 62 students, a 22x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Denison H S accounts for 27.2% of all Denison Isd student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Denison Isd-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: high. 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.
Denison Isd school enrollment varies 22× across entities
Denison Isd school enrollment ranges from 62 students (lowest) to 1,351 students (highest), a spread of 1,289 students. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Denison Isd has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 60.0% 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). Areas above 75% eligibility receive concentration grants on top of the basic Title I formula. 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.
Denison Isd student-counselor ratio is 361:1 — 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.
Denison Isd chronic absenteeism rate is 30.4% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.