Tennessee runs 1,844 public schools across 148 districts, with a 15.6:1 average classroom and — of students on subsidized lunch.
1,844
public schools
148
school districts
15.6:1
avg student–teacher
—
free/reduced lunch
What the NCES Data Says About Tennessee Schools
Tennessee operates 1,844 public K-12 schools organised into 148 independent school districts serving 994,264 students, per the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data 2024-25. The largest district, Memphis-Shelby County Schools, enrolls 109,797 pupils across 222 schools at $13,650 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 15.6:1, a useful benchmark for comparing any individual district or school on PlainSchools. 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.
Tennessee's average class size vs. every US state
Average students per teacher, state by state (lower means smaller classes)
16smaller classes than 35% 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.
Tennessee per-pupil spending varies 3.2× across districts
Per-pupil spending in Tennessee ranges from $5,560 (lowest district) to $17,848 (highest), a spread of $12,288. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually equalised funding system — most states have wider gaps. 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.
Average Tennessee student-teacher ratio is 15.6:1 — 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 Tennessee data
Tennessee's 1,844 schools sit inside 148 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 Tennessee 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 Tennessee?
Tennessee has 1,844 public schools across 148 school districts, serving 994,264 students.
What is the average student-teacher ratio in Tennessee?
The average student-teacher ratio in Tennessee public schools is 15.6:1. This varies by district — use the district table below to compare.
What is the largest school district in Tennessee?
The largest school district in Tennessee is Memphis-Shelby County Schools with 109,797 students across 222 schools.
Largest K-12 public schools by total students enrolled
students
Collierville High School
2,946
Collierville High School
2,946 students
100.0% of the leader · rank #1 · Collierville, TN
Bartlett High School
2,782
Bartlett High School
2,782 students
94.4% of the leader · rank #2 · Bartlett, TN
Stewarts Creek High Sc…
2,474
Stewarts Creek High School
2,474 students
84.0% of the leader · rank #3 · Smyrna, TN
Science Hill High School
2,359
Science Hill High School
2,359 students
80.1% of the leader · rank #4 · Johnson City, TN
Dobyns - Bennett High …
2,315
Dobyns - Bennett High School
2,315 students
78.6% of the leader · rank #5 · Kingsport, TN
Blackman High School
2,301
Blackman High School
2,301 students
78.1% of the leader · rank #6 · Murfreesboro, TN
Riverdale High School
2,275
Riverdale High School
2,275 students
77.2% of the leader · rank #7 · Murfreesboro, TN
Smyrna High School
2,266
Smyrna High School
2,266 students
76.9% of the leader · rank #8 · Smyrna, TN
What this shows The largest public schools in Tennessee 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.