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Desoto, Texas - 10 schools
An equity score of 50/100 ranks Desoto Isd #513 of 1044 districts in Texas (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,600 per pupil, Desoto Isd ranks #658 of 1202 Texas districts by per-pupil spending (Texas districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
6,322
Total Enrollment
10
Schools
$12,600
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Desoto Isd operates 10 public schools serving 6,322 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Texas. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 elementary, 3 combined, 2 middle, 1 high 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 Dallas County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,600 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 49.2% local, 29.0% state, and 21.8% 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 50/100, ranked #513 of 1044 in Texas against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 10 schools offering Advanced Placement (20 AP courses district-wide), a 261.8:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 43.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 70.8% African American, 22.8% Hispanic or Latino, 2.2% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Frank D Moates El, with a diversity index of 58.1/100.
Its largest campus is Desoto H S, enrolling 1,936 students (36% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Desoto Alternative Education Center (Daep), at 19 students, a 102x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Desoto H S accounts for 30.6% of all Desoto Isd student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Desoto 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.
Desoto Isd school enrollment varies 102× across entities
Desoto Isd school enrollment ranges from 19 students (lowest) to 1,936 students (highest), a spread of 1,917 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.
Desoto Isd has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 64.1% 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.
Desoto Isd student-counselor ratio is 262:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
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 Variation between sub-units within Desoto Isd is typically wider than the Desoto Isd-aggregate figure suggests.
Desoto Isd chronic absenteeism rate is 43.0% — 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.