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Pima County · Arizona

Tucson, AZ public schools

Enrollment, school count, staffing and per-pupil spending for Tucson Unified District (4403) — federal education data, not a star rating.

Yellow public school bus parked at dusk, illustrating local school district data

Quick answer

Tucson Unified District (4403) is the primary public district for Tucson, AZ. It enrolls 41,511 students in 90 schools with 2,823 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $11,143 per pupil, 36% below the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
41,511NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
90Operating school count
Students per teacher
14.7Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$11,143Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Tucson

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
43.6%
$225,784,000
State revenue
33.3%
$172,553,000
Federal revenue
23.1%
$119,812,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Tucson property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 48 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Tucson numbers

What the 2021-22 NCES and FY2020 Census finance numbers say about this district.

This is a low-spending district: $11,143 per pupil, 36% under the $17,320 median and near the bottom of the metros tracked here. Only 48 cents of each dollar ($5,338 per student) is classified as instruction, so a large share goes to support services, facilities and transport — common in districts with long bus routes or older buildings.

Funding is split roughly evenly — 43.6% local, 33.3% state — so both the local tax base and the AZ aid formula matter to what this district can spend. Federal dollars are an outsized 23.1% of revenue, a share that tracks concentrated student poverty (Title I) and special-education enrollment.

41,511 students across 90 schools averages 461 students per building, and the district is smaller than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). The 14.7:1 student-to-teacher ratio is ordinary for this set of districts (median 15.2:1). It counts all FTE teachers district-wide, so actual class sizes run higher.

Worth flagging: a federal share this large means the district is exposed to grant cycles. Title I and pandemic-era relief awards can move the per-pupil figure between survey years without any change in local taxation.

What this data covers

Read this before comparing districts.

Tucson Unified District (4403) is a county-scale district, so its catchment reaches well past the Tucson city limits and these figures describe that wider area. Independently authorised charter schools, private schools and regional vocational programs are counted separately by NCES and are not in these totals. Enrollment is the 2021-22 NCES collection; dollars are the FY2020 Census F-33 survey, the latest complete national release. The two years differ, so per-pupil spending is a stable indicator rather than a live budget line.

Other Tucson datasets on this site.

Statewide: Arizona cities · Arizona ZIP codes · Arizona sales tax · Arizona counties

Source: NCES Common Core of Data + Census F-33, via Urban Institute Education Data · rates as published for 2021-22 / FY2020

NCES LEAID 0408800. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.