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Cortez, Colorado - 10 schools
An equity score of 32/100 ranks Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 #113 of 142 districts in Colorado (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $11,473 per pupil, Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 ranks #156 of 180 Colorado districts by per-pupil spending (Colorado districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,449
Total Enrollment
10
Schools
$11,473
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 operates 10 public schools serving 2,449 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Colorado. The school portfolio breaks down into 6 elementary, 2 high, 1 middle, 1 combined 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 Montezuma County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $11,473 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 180 Colorado districts by per-pupil spending. See how Colorado compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 42.2% local, 42.0% state, and 15.9% 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 32/100, ranked #113 of 142 in Colorado 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 10 schools offering Advanced Placement (3 AP courses district-wide), a 221.8:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 43.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 54.2% White, 19.5% Hispanic or Latino, 0.5% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Mesa Elementary School, with a diversity index of 71.5/100.
Its largest campus is Montezuma-Cortez High School, enrolling 598 students (25% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Pleasant View Elementary School, at 35 students, a 17x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Montezuma-Cortez High School accounts for 24.4% of all Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 student enrollment
That concentration means Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1-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.
Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 school enrollment varies 17× across entities
Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 school enrollment ranges from 35 students (lowest) to 598 students (highest), a spread of 563 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.
Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 53.0% 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.
Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 student-counselor ratio is 222:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 chronic absenteeism rate is 43.5% — 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 Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in Colorado
Top districts in the same state, compare side-by-side for enrollment, spending, and demographics.
How many schools are in Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1?
Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 has 10 schools, including 2 high, 1 middle, 6 elementary, 1 combined. Total enrollment is 2,449 students.
How much does Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 spend per student?
Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 spends $11,473 per student. The district has an equity score of 32/100, ranking #113 in Colorado.
What is the demographic composition of Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1?
Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 students are 54.2% White, 19.5% Hispanic or Latino, 0.5% Asian, 0.4% African American, averaged across 10 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1?
Montezuma-Cortez School District No. Re-1 has an equity score of 32/100, ranking #113 out of 142 districts in Colorado.