While the U.S. is one of the most educated countries in the world, it doesn’t provide the same quality elementary school or secondary school education to all students. In many states, more affluent school districts receive a greater amount of funding per student than poorer districts.
Discrepancies between the rich and poor have been exacerbated even more this year by the COVID-19 pandemic. Low-income students have suffered the greatest “learning loss” due to partial or total remote learning. One contributing factor is that people in low-income districts are less likely to have the technological resources they need.
States that provide equitable funding to all school districts can help prevent poor students from having lower graduation rates, lower rates of pursuing higher education and smaller future incomes than their wealthy peers. The difference is dramatic: College graduates have $524 - $1,112 higher median weekly earnings than people with a high school diploma and no college experience, depending on the degree.
New Mexico has the 10th least equitable school districts in the U.S. overall, but some districts within the state are fairer than others. To find out where school funding is distributed most equitably, WalletHub scored 89 districts in New Mexico based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil. Read on for the district ranking and a complete description of our methodology.
Main Findings
Note: For visual purposes, we included only the top 7 school districts by enrollment from each category.
Most & Least Equitable School Districts in New Mexico
| Rank* | School District | Score | Expeditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools per Pupil | Income by School District |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hobbs Municipal Schools | 0.19 | $8,567 | $62,717 |
| 2 | Melrose Public Schools | 1.24 | $12,047 | $51,719 |
| 3 | Carrizozo Municipal Schools | 1.73 | $17,986 | $35,333 |
| 4 | Hondo Valley Public Schools | 1.97 | $20,305 | $28,529 |
| 5 | Questa Independent Schools | 2.53 | $17,286 | $35,541 |
| 6 | Mesa Vista Consolidated Schools | 2.96 | $16,580 | $37,457 |
| 7 | Artesia Public Schools | 3.16 | $9,669 | $57,955 |
| 8 | Mora Independent Schools | 4.15 | $19,221 | $29,063 |
| 9 | Moriarty-Edgewood School District | 6.11 | $9,642 | $56,736 |
| 10 | Bernalillo Public Schools | 6.46 | $12,793 | $52,890 |
| 11 | Cimarron Municipal Schools | 7.71 | $15,086 | $46,607 |
| 12 | Magdalena Municipal Schools | 8.63 | $19,580 | $26,020 |
| 13 | Jal Public Schools | 8.98 | $9,709 | $55,272 |
| 14 | Rio Rancho Public Schools | 9.16 | $8,565 | $66,674 |
| 15 | Zuni Public Schools | 10.07 | $15,196 | $38,445 |
| 16 | Eunice Municipal Schools | 11.19 | $8,889 | $66,607 |
| 17 | Albuquerque Public Schools | 11.59 | $9,879 | $53,614 |
| 18 | Cloudcroft Municipal Schools | 11.72 | $11,554 | $48,567 |
| 19 | Lovington Municipal Schools | 12.44 | $9,531 | $54,275 |
| 20 | Santa Fe Public Schools | 12.97 | $10,546 | $62,455 |
| 21 | Tularosa Municipal Schools | 13.15 | $13,439 | $42,323 |
| 22 | Lordsburg Municipal Schools | 14.15 | $13,790 | $40,833 |
| 23 | Bloomfield Schools | 14.54 | $10,283 | $51,113 |
| 24 | Animas Public Schools | 15.18 | $16,893 | $44,519 |
| 25 | Tatum Municipal Schools | 15.76 | $13,111 | $56,042 |
| 26 | Pojoaque Valley Public Schools | 16.35 | $9,561 | $52,463 |
| 27 | Floyd Municipal Schools | 16.81 | $13,476 | $55,417 |
| 28 | Jemez Mountain Public Schools | 17.35 | $21,645 | $31,319 |
| 29 | Hagerman Municipal Schools | 17.37 | $12,784 | $42,411 |
| 30 | Capitan Municipal Schools | 17.72 | $11,918 | $44,840 |
| 31 | Loving Municipal Schools | 17.84 | $10,224 | $49,833 |
| 32 | Springer Municipal Schools | 18.74 | $20,063 | $36,641 |
| 33 | Farmington Municipal Schools | 19.38 | $8,635 | $53,886 |
| 34 | Carlsbad Municipal Schools | 19.84 | $9,507 | $68,575 |
| 35 | Socorro Consolidated Schools | 19.95 | $11,814 | $44,167 |
| 36 | Cuba Independent Schools | 20.29 | $18,185 | $25,036 |
| 37 | Chama Valley Indep. Schools | 20.41 | $14,812 | $35,029 |
| 38 | Dora Municipal Schools | 21.65 | $12,612 | $60,125 |
| 39 | Central Consolidated Schools | 22.35 | $12,562 | $40,881 |
| 40 | Cobre Consolidated Schools | 22.54 | $14,359 | $35,443 |
| 41 | Logan Municipal Schools | 22.60 | $11,036 | $45,313 |
| 42 | Ruidoso Municipal Schools | 22.81 | $9,636 | $49,394 |
| 43 | Aztec Municipal Schools | 23.22 | $9,096 | $50,820 |
| 44 | Los Lunas Public Schools | 23.70 | $8,992 | $50,918 |
| 45 | Texico Municipal Schools | 24.20 | $11,131 | $44,327 |
| 46 | Penasco Independent Schools | 24.69 | $15,867 | $30,000 |
| 47 | Dexter Consolidated Schools | 25.40 | $12,511 | $39,688 |
| 48 | Dulce Independent Schools | 26.42 | $18,414 | $44,940 |
| 49 | Jemez Valley Public Schools | 28.80 | $18,579 | $45,500 |
| 50 | Espanola Public Schools | 29.39 | $11,672 | $40,426 |
| 51 | Quemado Independent Schools | 31.05 | $21,987 | $36,336 |
| 52 | Belen Consolidated Schools | 31.47 | $9,967 | $44,592 |
| 53 | Reserve Public Schools | 32.33 | $19,238 | $45,089 |
| 54 | Estancia Municipal Schools | 32.76 | $14,012 | $31,972 |
| 55 | San Jon Municipal Schools | 33.79 | $16,938 | $52,589 |
| 56 | Las Cruces Public Schools | 34.09 | $9,423 | $45,058 |
| 57 | Taos Municipal Schools | 34.33 | $10,968 | $40,349 |
| 58 | Grants-Cibola County Schools | 34.85 | $11,139 | $39,609 |
| 59 | Clayton Municipal Schools | 35.07 | $12,714 | $34,821 |
| 60 | Silver Consolidated Schools | 35.40 | $11,119 | $39,425 |
| 61 | Fort Sumner Municipal Schools | 36.12 | $13,631 | $31,625 |
| 62 | Portales Municipal Schools | 36.84 | $10,355 | $41,069 |
| 63 | Maxwell Municipal Schools | 36.90 | $19,000 | $47,813 |
| 64 | Roswell Independent Schools | 37.78 | $9,417 | $43,448 |
| 65 | Mountainair Public Schools | 39.44 | $18,355 | $50,855 |
| 66 | Clovis Municipal Schools | 39.74 | $8,772 | $44,504 |
| 67 | Gallup-Mckinley Cty Schools | 40.67 | $12,379 | $33,349 |
| 68 | Elida Municipal Schools | 41.05 | $18,881 | $50,000 |
| 69 | Vaughn Municipal Schools | 41.21 | $28,055 | $22,738 |
| 70 | Alamogordo Public Schools | 42.44 | $8,698 | $43,534 |
| 71 | Las Vegas City Public Schools | 45.72 | $11,425 | $33,967 |
| 72 | Santa Rosa Consolidated Schools | 46.84 | $13,203 | $28,173 |
| 73 | Pecos Independent Schools | 48.56 | $12,672 | $28,998 |
| 74 | West Las Vegas Public Schools | 52.64 | $12,455 | $27,845 |
| 75 | T Or C Municipal Schools | 54.39 | $11,555 | $29,755 |
| 76 | Hatch Valley Public Schools | 55.87 | $11,119 | $30,404 |
| 77 | Raton Public Schools | 59.57 | $9,616 | $33,248 |
| 78 | Deming Public Schools | 61.12 | $10,692 | $29,360 |
| 79 | Grady Municipal Schools | 62.72 | $15,164 | $70,625 |
| 80 | Tucumcari Public Schools | 64.35 | $10,859 | $27,438 |
| 81 | Gadsden Independent Schools | 64.51 | $9,710 | $30,794 |
| 82 | Wagon Mound Public Schools | 77.17 | $31,986 | $26,875 |
| 83 | Lake Arthur Municipal Schools | 82.01 | $24,731 | $50,625 |
| 84 | Des Moines Municipal Schools | 86.21 | $24,303 | $53,750 |
| 85 | Roy Municipal Schools | 103.09 | $35,891 | $26,667 |
| 86 | House Municipal Schools | 105.48 | $33,238 | $35,625 |
| 87 | Los Alamos Public Schools | 151.28 | $11,249 | $121,324 |
| 88 | Corona Municipal Schools | 175.27 | $34,794 | $61,750 |
| 89 | Mosquero Municipal Schools | 209.82 | $47,806 | $38,214 |
*1=Most Equitable
Methodology
In order to rank the states with the most and least equitable school districts, WalletHub first scored 12,927 school districts throughout the U.S. based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil.
For expenditures, for each 1 percent above the state's average we removed 1 point from a base score of 50 points for each district. For household income, for each 1 percent above the state's average we added 1 point to a base score of 50 points for each district. The inverse was true for each 1 percent below the state's average.
The final score for each district was calculated by taking the absolute difference between the score for expenditures and the score for household income. We then ranked the districts based on the total score, with the lowest value, representing the most equitable, being ranked 1.
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics.