Georgia runs 2,315 public schools across 227 districts, with a 14.5:1 average classroom and 60.7% of students on subsidized lunch.
2,315
public schools
227
school districts
14.5:1
avg student–teacher
60.7%
free/reduced lunch
How Georgia ranks nationally
Per-pupil spending
$13,863
#34of 51 · highest-spending
Average class size
14.5:1
#27of 51 · smallest classes
Public schools
2,315
#14of 51 · most schools
On subsidized lunch
60.7%
#9of 43 · highest share
Georgia ranks #34 of 51 nationally on per-pupil spending and #27 of 51 on average class size, derived live by comparing it against every other state. Ranked among all 50 states + DC from NCES enrollment/staffing and the F-33 finance survey. Lunch share is an indicator of student need, not of quality.
What the NCES Data Says About Georgia Schools
Georgia operates 2,315 public K-12 schools organised into 227 independent school districts serving 1,738,641 students, per the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data 2024-25. The largest district, Gwinnett County, enrolls 181,814 pupils across 140 schools at $13,113 per student, while smaller rural districts can run fewer than a dozen campuses. This fragmentation — inherited from century-old township governance patterns in many states — is why per-pupil spending, class sizes, and programme availability vary dramatically inside a single state boundary.
Statewide, the average student-teacher ratio is 14.5:1, a useful benchmark for comparing any individual district or school on PlainSchools. Free-lunch eligibility averages 60.7% across Georgia public schools, a federal indicator of economic need that drives Title I funding allocations. The district table below is sortable by enrollment, school count, and per-pupil expenditure — the three fields that best predict a district's financial and demographic profile. For schools specifically, use the rankings links above to view per-category leaderboards covering spending, class size, best schools by composite quality score, chronic absenteeism, and funding-equity distribution within the state.
Every district figure here pulls from two distinct federal surveys: enrollment and demographic data come from the NCES Common Core of Data 2024-25 (school membership and directory), while per-pupil spending, teacher salaries, and federal/state/local revenue shares originate in the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey (typically FY 2021-22). Civil-rights indicators — gifted enrollment, AP course counts, counselor staffing, chronic absenteeism, in- and out-of-school suspensions — come from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Cross-referencing these three sources is what lets PlainSchools produce composite scores and equity rankings that single-source tools cannot.
Georgia's average class size vs. every US state
Average students per teacher, state by state (lower means smaller classes)
15smaller classes than 47% of 51 US states
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Department of Education — NCES Common Core of Data · 2024-25
Federal data — no proprietary formula.
PlainSchools publishes the actual federal survey data — enrollment, staffing, finance, and demographics from NCES — without a composite rating on top. The insights below are computed directly from those datasets; every number traces to a cited source.
Georgia per-pupil spending varies 4.1× across districts
Per-pupil spending in Georgia ranges from $7,401 (lowest district) to $30,025 (highest), a spread of $22,624. That spread reflects typical state-level variation between high-property-value suburbs and rural or low-tax-base districts. High-spending districts typically draw on higher property tax bases, a structural feature of state education finance under the federal Title I framework that sets the floor but not the ceiling.
Georgia has higher-than-average Title I eligibility - 60.7% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch
Free-lunch eligibility is the federal threshold for Title I funding allocations under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), which replaced No Child Left Behind in defining how the federal government distributes K-12 supplemental funding. Districts above 75% eligibility receive concentration grants on top of the basic Title I formula. States with eligibility this high typically draw a substantially larger federal funding share relative to their local property tax base, which can either offset spending gaps or reinforce them depending on state allocation policy.
Average Georgia student-teacher ratio is 14.5:1 - near the U.S. average of approximately 16:1
Student-teacher ratio is the simplest staffing metric reported on NCES Common Core of Data, but it does not capture push-in specialists, intervention staff, English Language Learner aides, special education co-teachers, or counseling and support staff. Variation between districts within the state is wider than the state-average figure suggests, large urban districts may run 20:1 while small rural districts run 10:1, both inside the same average. Class-load comparisons are most meaningful at the district or school level, not the state aggregate.
Data sourced from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25, NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22.
Using the Georgia data
Georgia's 2,315 schools sit inside 227 districts — compare at the district level first.
District boundaries decide enrollment: shortlist 2-3 districts on spending, ratio, and size before comparing individual schools. Compare districts →
Check how Georgia distributes money across its districts — funding equity varies more within states than between them. Funding equity →
Verify any school's federal record (enrollment, staffing, CRDC flags) before a visit or enrollment decision. Look up a school →
Figures are the federal record (CCD 2024-25, F-33 FY 2021-22, CRDC 2021-22) — they lag the current school year and describe reported data, not school quality. PlainSchools does not rate or rank schools.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many public schools are in Georgia?
Georgia has 2,315 public schools across 227 school districts, serving 1,738,641 students.
What is the average student-teacher ratio in Georgia?
The average student-teacher ratio in Georgia public schools is 14.5:1. This varies by district, use the district table below to compare.
What percentage of Georgia students qualify for free lunch?
60.7% of students in Georgia qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of economic need used for Title I funding.
What is the largest school district in Georgia?
The largest school district in Georgia is Gwinnett County with 181,814 students across 140 schools.
Largest K-12 public schools by total students enrolled
students
Georgia Cyber Academy
9,952
Georgia Cyber Academy
9,952 students
100.0% of the leader · rank #1 · Atlanta, GA
Georgia Connections Ac…
7,148
Georgia Connections Academy
7,148 students
71.8% of the leader · rank #2 · Duluth, GA
Brookwood High School
3,803
Brookwood High School
3,803 students
38.2% of the leader · rank #3 · Snellville, GA
Grayson High School
3,627
Grayson High School
3,627 students
36.4% of the leader · rank #4 · Loganville, GA
Lambert High School
3,249
Lambert High School
3,249 students
32.6% of the leader · rank #5 · Suwanee, GA
Parkview High School
3,216
Parkview High School
3,216 students
32.3% of the leader · rank #6 · Lilburn, GA
Peachtree Ridge High S…
3,155
Peachtree Ridge High School
3,155 students
31.7% of the leader · rank #7 · Suwanee, GA
Lowndes High School
3,152
Lowndes High School
3,152 students
31.7% of the leader · rank #8 · Valdosta, GA
What this shows The largest public schools in Georgia by enrollment — often statewide virtual academies or large consolidated campuses, so size here reflects reach, not quality.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data (CCD) — Public school universe · 2023-2024 Public K-12 school enrollment, demographics, and operational data; collected annually by NCES from state education agencies.