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Fountain Hills, Arizona - 4 schools
An equity score of 23/100 ranks Fountain Hills Unified District (4247) #331 of 437 districts in Arizona (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $10,759 per pupil, Fountain Hills Unified District (4247) ranks #322 of 634 Arizona districts by per-pupil spending (Arizona districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,190
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$10,759
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Fountain Hills Unified District (4247) operates 4 public schools serving 1,190 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Arizona. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 combined, 1 high, 1 elementary 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 Maricopa County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $10,759 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 64.4% local, 22.6% state, and 13.0% 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 23/100, ranked #331 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 4 schools offering Advanced Placement (13 AP courses district-wide), a 151.4:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 65.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 51.2% White, 15.6% Hispanic or Latino, 2.1% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Mcdowell Mountain Elementary School, with a diversity index of 70.8/100.
Mcdowell Mountain Elementary School accounts for 32.1% of all Fountain Hills Unified District (4247) student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Fountain Hills Unified District (4247)-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.
Fountain Hills Unified District (4247) school enrollment varies 6.9× across entities
Fountain Hills Unified District (4247) school enrollment ranges from 55 students (lowest) to 382 students (highest), a spread of 327 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.
Fountain Hills Unified District (4247) student-counselor ratio is 151:1 — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 Values this far below typical often correlate with unusually small scale or population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se — worth checking whether the underlying denominator is itself an outlier.
Fountain Hills Unified District (4247) chronic absenteeism rate is 65.5% — 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 Fountain Hills Unified District (4247)'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.