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Fort Thomas, Arizona - 4 schools
An equity score of 91/100 ranks Fort Thomas Unified District (4221) #1 of 437 districts in Arizona (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $18,154 per pupil, Fort Thomas Unified District (4221) ranks #86 of 634 Arizona districts by per-pupil spending (Arizona districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
620
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$18,154
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Fort Thomas Unified District (4221) operates 4 public schools serving 620 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Arizona. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 combined 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 Graham County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $18,154 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 634 Arizona districts by per-pupil spending. See how Arizona compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 2.8% local, 37.1% state, and 60.2% federal, an unusually federal-heavy mix, typically a marker of concentrated Title I eligibility or a small district reliant on federal impact-aid programs. The district's equity score is 91/100, ranked #1 of 437 in Arizona against a state average of 38, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 284:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 87.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 2.8% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Mt. Turnbull Academy, with a diversity index of 22.5/100.
Its largest campus is Fort Thomas High School, enrolling 284 students (45% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Mt. Turnbull Academy, at 32 students, a 9x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Fort Thomas High School accounts for 44.5% of all Fort Thomas Unified District (4221) student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Fort Thomas Unified District (4221)-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.
Fort Thomas Unified District (4221) school enrollment varies 8.9× across entities
Fort Thomas Unified District (4221) school enrollment ranges from 32 students (lowest) to 284 students (highest), a spread of 252 students. That spread reflects typical mixed-portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Fort Thomas Unified District (4221) has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 77.0% 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 — including this one — 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.
Fort Thomas Unified District (4221) student-counselor ratio is 284:1 — 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 Fort Thomas Unified District (4221) is typically wider than the Fort Thomas Unified District (4221)-aggregate figure suggests.
Fort Thomas Unified District (4221) chronic absenteeism rate is 87.5% — 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 Fort Thomas Unified District (4221)'s own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in Arizona
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