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Dulce, New Mexico - 3 schools
An equity score of 74/100 ranks Dulce Independent Schools #16 of 98 districts in New Mexico (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $23,259 per pupil, Dulce Independent Schools ranks #19 of 141 New Mexico districts by per-pupil spending (New Mexico districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
521
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$23,259
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Dulce Independent Schools operates 3 public schools serving 521 students, placing it among the smallest districts in New Mexico. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 combined, 1 high, 1 middle schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Rio Arriba County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $23,259 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 141 New Mexico districts by per-pupil spending. See how New Mexico compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 38.5% local, 36.7% state, and 24.7% 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 74/100, ranked #16 of 98 in New Mexico against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 3 schools offering Advanced Placement (2 AP courses district-wide), a 326:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 36.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 13.5% Hispanic or Latino, 0.9% Asian, 0.2% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Dulce Elementary, with a diversity index of 37.4/100.
Its largest campus is Dulce Elementary, enrolling 264 students (48% of the district's total enrollment).
Dulce Elementary accounts for 47.7% of all Dulce Independent Schools student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Dulce Independent Schools a distant remainder — means Dulce Independent Schools-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.
Dulce Independent Schools school enrollment varies 2.0× across entities
Dulce Independent Schools school enrollment ranges from 130 students (lowest) to 264 students (highest), a spread of 134 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous campus portfolio, most districts have a wider mix of school sizes. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Dulce Independent Schools has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 100.0% 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). Eligibility here is a supermajority of the population — well past the 75% concentration-grant threshold that unlocks extra funding 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.
Dulce Independent Schools student-counselor ratio is 326:1 — 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 Dulce Independent Schools is typically wider than the Dulce Independent Schools-aggregate figure suggests.
Dulce Independent Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 36.6% — 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.