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Tifton, Georgia - 11 schools
An equity score of 55/100 ranks Tift County #89 of 216 districts in Georgia (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,730 per pupil, Tift County ranks #142 of 219 Georgia districts by per-pupil spending (Georgia districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
7,661
Total Enrollment
11
Schools
$12,730
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Tift County operates 11 public schools serving 7,661 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Georgia. The school portfolio breaks down into 8 combined, 2 middle, 1 high 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 Tift County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,730 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 219 Georgia districts by per-pupil spending. See how Georgia compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 30.1% local, 47.6% state, and 22.3% 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 55/100, ranked #89 of 216 in Georgia against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 11 schools offering Advanced Placement (10 AP courses district-wide), a 407.9:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 24.9% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 37.4% African American, 34.3% White, 21.8% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is G. O. Bailey Elementary School, with a diversity index of 70.6/100.
Its largest campus is Tift County High School, enrolling 2,207 students (30% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Omega Elementary School, at 314 students, a 7x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Tift County High School accounts for 28.8% of all Tift County student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Tift County-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.
Tift County school enrollment varies 7.0× across entities
Tift County school enrollment ranges from 314 students (lowest) to 2,207 students (highest), a spread of 1,893 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.
Tift County 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.
Tift County student-counselor ratio is 408:1 — high (typically associated with staffing constraints that limit per-student counselor time; CRDC data shows higher ratios cluster in larger urban systems)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Tift County chronic absenteeism rate is 24.9% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
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 Variation between sub-units within Tift County is typically wider than the Tift County-aggregate figure suggests.
Tift County has 11 schools, including 1 high, 2 middle, 8 combined. Total enrollment is 7,661 students.
How much does Tift County spend per student?
Tift County spends $12,730 per student. The district has an equity score of 55/100, ranking #89 in Georgia.
What is the demographic composition of Tift County?
Tift County students are 37.4% African American, 34.3% White, 21.8% Hispanic or Latino, 1.7% Asian, averaged across 11 schools. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Tift County?
Tift County has an equity score of 55/100, ranking #89 out of 216 districts in Georgia.