Enrollment
407
Tennessee · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Bells, TN
Bells Elementary
Federal NCES profile for Bells Elementary, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 44/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 470021000045
👥 S:T ratio 40
🌟 Gifted program 30
🎓 Counselors 19
📋 Attendance 88
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Bells Elementary earns 44/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes near the Tennessee median.
- 44
- Resource Index · Typical
- 15.1:1
- students per teacher
- 407
- students enrolled
Bells Elementary has class sizes near the Tennessee median. Computed live against every Tennessee school reporting to NCES.
School address
Teachers (FTE)
27.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
15.1:1
vs 15.3:1 Tennessee avg
-1% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Bells Elementary compares with Tennessee and U.S. medians
What stands out at Bells Elementary
Bells Elementary is a mid-sized combined-grade school in Bells, Tennessee, enrolling 407 students.
At 15.1:1, its student-teacher ratio sits close to the Tennessee median, within a few percentage points of the 15.3:1 state norm, neither notably crowded nor notably small.
With 407 students, its enrollment sits close to the Tennessee median campus size.
Its Resource Investment Index sits near the middle of the pack among 1,838 scored Tennessee schools.
Its student body is led by White (62%) and Hispanic or Latino (19%) (diversity index 55/100).
Counselor access is stretched at roughly 407 students per counselor, well above the ASCA-recommended 250:1 ceiling.
Attendance holds up well here: only 4.7% of students were chronically absent, below the typical post-pandemic national figure.
Its district draws 24.0% of revenue from federal sources, an above-typical federal share that tends to track a higher-need student population.
Bells operates only this one school, so Bells Elementary has no district-mates to compare against locally.
Sourced from NCES CCD, CRDC, and F-33 (federal records, not a quality verdict). How we source and compute this.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data + CRDC + F-33 · 2024-25
How Bells Elementary compares
Bells Elementary on the metrics families compare, against Tennessee and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs Tennessee | Tennessee avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher | 15.1:1 | ▼ 1% | 15.3:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Enrollment | 407 | top 59% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
15.1:1
Leaner classes than 46% of US schools, a middle-of-the-pack class size.
407
Bigger than 48% of US schools by enrollment, mid-sized for the country.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Staffing depth
15.1:1
students per teacher
- 1% below state mean
Top 54% in Tennessee - lower ratio than 46% of state schools
Close to the 15:1 benchmark most often cited for individualized attention.
Engagement
4.7%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
Below 5%, comfortably under the pre-pandemic national baseline for chronic absenteeism.
Funding equity
$10,324
per pupil, district-wide
- below Tennessee avg of $10,822
Well below the U.S. average per-pupil spend, a notably leaner funding position that may affect programs, facilities, and staffing.
Support staff
Counselors1.0 FTE
Per 407 students, the combined health-and-guidance staffing load for this school.
Discipline context
9
in-school suspensions + 0 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 2.2 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 2.2 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Overview
- Common Core of Data (June 2026): enrollment, staffing, and the student-teacher ratio above.
- Civil Rights Data Collection: discipline counts and program access (AP, gifted, special education).
- F-33 School District Finance Survey: the district-wide per-pupil spending figures below.
Three separate federal collections, each on its own reporting cadence - which is why this school's numbers line up on a consistent basis against every other school and state on this site, rather than mixing figures pulled from different survey years.
Student demographics
White 62.4%
Hispanic or Latino 19.4%
African American 16.0%
Two or More 1.2%
Asian 0.5%
American Indian / Alaska Native 0.2%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander 0.2%
Largest group: White at 62.4% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 54.7/100
Simpson diversity index - at 54.7, Bells Elementary is more mixed than the Tennessee school average of 38.3.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Bells, which includes Bells Elementary.
$10,324
Per student
-5%
vs Tennessee
Avg $10,822
-38%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 10.7%
State 65.3%
Federal 24.0%
Source: NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey District-level finance · FY 2021-22 Per-pupil expenditure reflects the district-wide average. Individual school budgets are not reported at the federal level.
Similar other schools statewide
Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of Tennessee, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Similar enrollment (~407 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~15.1:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Bells Elementary's federal record.
- Compare Bells Elementary against another school. Compare schools
- Bells's spending and staffing shape this school. District profile
- Confirm current enrollment and boundaries with the school. Choosing guide
Federal record (CCD 2024-25, CRDC 2021-22) - PlainSchools assigns no subjective rating; the composite quality score is a transparent, reproducible index computed from this cited federal data.
Frequently asked questions about Bells Elementary
How many students attend Bells Elementary?
Bells Elementary has 407 students enrolled. It is a public school in Bells, TN.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Bells Elementary?
The student-teacher ratio at Bells Elementary is 15.1:1, which is 1% lower than the Tennessee average of 15.3:1 and 4% lower than the national average of 15.7:1. Lower ratios generally mean more individual attention per student.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Bells Elementary?
The largest demographic group at Bells Elementary is White at 62.4% of enrollment, in Bells, TN. Its student body is more racially and ethnically mixed than most US schools, with a diversity index of 54.7/100.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Bells Elementary?
Bells Elementary has a Resource Investment Index of 44/100 (typical reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 4 factors: student-teacher ratio, counselor availability, attendance rates. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).
Is Bells Elementary a good school?
Bells Elementary earns 44/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes near the Tennessee median. This is a resource snapshot, not an academic rating; see the Resource Investment Index question above for what the number does and doesn't measure.
What other schools are in Bells?
None reported; Bells operates only Bells Elementary as a public school district in NCES's records.
Related tools
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. Each school's figures reflect its most recent NCES/CRDC submission on file. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.