An equity score of 87/100 ranks Sanders Unified District (4156) #4 of 437 districts in Arizona (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $21,901 per pupil, Sanders Unified District (4156) ranks #60 of 633 Arizona districts by per-pupil spending (Arizona districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
616
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$21,901
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Sanders Unified District (4156) operates 3 public schools serving 616 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Arizona. 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 Apache County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $21,901 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 64 of 633 Arizona districts by per-pupil spending. See how Arizona compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 4.0% local, 34.5% state, and 61.5% 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 87/100, ranked #4 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 127.9:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 82.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Sanders Middle School, with a diversity index of 27.3/100.
Its largest campus is Sanders Elementary School, enrolling 267 students (43% of the district's total enrollment).
Sanders Elementary School accounts for 42.8% of all Sanders Unified District (4156) student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Sanders Unified District (4156)-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade band: combined. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how the district allocates programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.
Sanders Unified District (4156) reports 82.5% free-lunch eligibility
The reported share is at least 75%, indicating a high concentration of measured economic need. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.
Sanders Unified District (4156) student-counselor ratio is 128:1 — 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.
Sanders Unified District (4156) chronic absenteeism rate is 82.4% — 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 Sanders Unified District (4156)'s own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
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