Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal
records, no number is typed in by an editor. District totals are aggregated directly from the schools reporting under this district in the source records. See our
editorial standards & corrections policy, the
methodology behind these numbers, or
report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.
Tombstone, Arizona - 3 schools
An equity score of 56/100 ranks Tombstone Unified District (4168) #84 of 437 districts in Arizona (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $11,790 per pupil, Tombstone Unified District (4168) ranks #248 of 634 Arizona districts by per-pupil spending (Arizona districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
872
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$11,790
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Tombstone Unified District (4168) operates 3 public schools serving 872 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Arizona. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 combined, 1 high 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 Cochise County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $11,790 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 34.1% local, 44.1% state, and 21.8% 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 56/100, ranked #84 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 612:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 55.7% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 52.9% White, 36.6% Hispanic or Latino, 2.3% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Walter J Meyer School, with a diversity index of 60.8/100.
Its largest campus is Tombstone High School, enrolling 461 students (53% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Walter J Meyer School, at 151 students, a 3x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Tombstone High School accounts for 52.7% of all Tombstone Unified District (4168) student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Tombstone Unified District (4168) a distant remainder — means Tombstone Unified District (4168)-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.
Tombstone Unified District (4168) school enrollment varies 3.1× across entities
Tombstone Unified District (4168) school enrollment ranges from 151 students (lowest) to 461 students (highest), a spread of 310 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.
Tombstone Unified District (4168) has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 53.4% 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.
Tombstone Unified District (4168) student-counselor ratio is 612:1 — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 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.
Tombstone Unified District (4168) chronic absenteeism rate is 55.7% — 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 Tombstone Unified District (4168)'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.