Deer Trail School District No. 26J vs Ray Unified District
CO · 327 students • AZ · 318 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- Deer Trail School District No. 26J spends 4% more per student than Ray Unified District after adjusting for local price levels.
- Deer Trail School District No. 26J directs 7 more cents of every operating dollar to instruction than Ray Unified District.
Are these even comparable?
Establish the shape of each district before reading a single dollar figure.
| Deer Trail School District No. 26J | Ray Unified District | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 327 | 318 |
| Schools | 2 | 2 |
| Grades served | PK–12 | PK–12 |
| Setting | Rural | Rural |
| County | Arapahoe County | Pinal County |
| State | CO | AZ |
| Local price level (US = 100) Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 105.8 | 103.3 |
The headline dollar
Current operating spending per student, shown three ways. The first is what each district reports. The second and third are the honest ones for comparison.
| Deer Trail School District No. 26J | Ray Unified District | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $13,845 | $12,951 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $13,088 | $12,536 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $12,630 | $11,837 |
| Capital spending per student Buildings and land, never folded into the operating figures above. It is lumpy: a district mid-build looks expensive for two years. | Locked | Locked |
Deer Trail School District No. 26J
Ray Unified District
Where the money comes from
The funding mix determines how exposed a district is to local property values, to state politics, and to federal programmes ending.
Deer Trail School District No. 26J
- Local 40.5% Locked
- State 55.8% Locked
- Federal 3.8% Locked
Ray Unified District
- Local 40.3% Locked
- State 43.6% Locked
- Federal 16.1% Locked
| Deer Trail School District No. 26J | Ray Unified District | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 40.5% | 40.3% |
| State share of revenue | 55.8% | 43.6% |
| Federal share of revenue | 3.8% | 16.1% |
| Total revenue | Locked | Locked |
How CO funds its districts
The School Finance Act: a statewide base per pupil adjusted by a cost-of-living and size factor, funded by local property tax topped up by the state.
How AZ funds its districts
A base support level per weighted pupil, with substantial reliance on voter-approved local overrides and bonds.
Where the money goes
The same slices in the same order for both districts, plus the differences by function — because two pie charts side by side hide exactly the thing you want to see.
Deer Trail School District No. 26J
- Instruction 53.9% Locked
- Instructional staff support 3.0% Locked
- Student support 2.9% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 15.5% Locked
- Transportation 3.5% Locked
- Food service 4.3% Locked
- School administration 5.9% Locked
- District administration 5.7% Locked
- Other support 5.3% Locked
- Other current 4.3% Locked
Ray Unified District
- Instruction 47.9% Locked
- Instructional staff support 2.1% Locked
- Student support 6.6% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 16.7% Locked
- Transportation 5.6% Locked
- Food service 4.3% Locked
- School administration 7.9% Locked
- District administration 1.1% Locked
- Other support 7.8% Locked
- Other current 4.3% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, Deer Trail School District No. 26J minus Ray Unified District. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| Deer Trail School District No. 26J | Ray Unified District | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 56.9% | 50.0% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 11.6% | 9.0% |
| Transportation share | 3.5% | 5.6% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| Deer Trail School District No. 26J | Ray Unified District | |
|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher This is a staffing ratio: total enrollment divided by teaching staff. It is NOT average class size. Actual classes are larger than this number in every district. | 11.7 | 13.3 |
| Students per counselor | Locked | Locked |
| Students per administrator | Locked | Locked |
| Total salaries All staff, not teachers alone. | Locked | Locked |
Who they serve
The answer to "but they serve different kids" — which is usually a fair objection.
| Deer Trail School District No. 26J | Ray Unified District | |
|---|---|---|
| Child poverty rate Children aged 5 to 17 in poverty within the district boundary. Used instead of free-lunch eligibility, which community eligibility has made unusable for comparison. | 7.2% | 9.3% |
| English learners | — | — |
| Students with disabilities | — | — |
| Enrollment change, 5 years | +29.2% | -21.9% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
Deer Trail School District No. 26J
No stability flags raised.
Ray Unified District
- Declining enrollment Enrollment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrollment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
- Low share reaching classrooms Under 55% of current spending reaches instruction and instructional support, low against national practice.
| Deer Trail School District No. 26J | Ray Unified District | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment change, 5 years | +29.2% | -21.9% |
| Long-term debt per student | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service share of spending | Locked | Locked |
Enrolling a child
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
Deer Trail School District No. 26J
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
Ray Unified District
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
- This is the district’s own published wording, not our summary of it. Policies are rewritten between enrollment seasons and a page can be out of date the day after we read it — the school office is the only authority on whether a particular grade at a particular school is full right now.
- A warning here is about capacity, not about your address. It does not mean your child will be moved; it means the district has told you in writing that it may move them.
Comparability notes
- Cross-state comparison. Dollars below are shown both as reported and adjusted to a common price level, because a dollar buys different amounts of teacher in CO and AZ.
What these numbers are, exactly
Who decides, and what it costs you
Every band above this one asks what a district spends. This one asks who chose to.
Deer Trail School District No. 26J
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
Ray Unified District
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
| Deer Trail School District No. 26J | Ray Unified District | |
|---|---|---|
| School property tax levied, per student Only for districts that levy in their own name. Blank where the county or town levies instead — see the cards above, and read the next row. | $5,704 | $5,779 |
| Appropriated by the county or town, per student What the parent government handed the schools, for dependent systems. This is a general appropriation, not solely property tax. | — | — |
| Property tax as a share of all revenue How much of the budget rides on local property values, and therefore on local votes. | 30.7% | 34.5% |
| Long-term debt already owed, per student The balance at the end of the year, for scale. Repaid over decades, so it is a commitment made by earlier boards rather than a bill arriving now. | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service as a share of spending Interest plus principal repaid this year, against total spending. This is the part of the debt that is being paid now, out of money that would otherwise reach a classroom. | Locked | Locked |
| New long-term debt issued, per student Money borrowed during fiscal year 2024. What this figure does and does not tell you is set out under the table. | $0 | $0 |
- Deer Trail School District No. 26J: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- Ray Unified District: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- A figure in the borrowing row is not a bond voters approved. It records debt issued, and that includes refinancing existing debt at a new rate — which changes nothing about what a district owes — as well as certificates of participation and lease-revenue debt, which in many states a board can issue with no referendum at all. To find out what was actually on a ballot, check the county election office.
- Debt is repaid over decades. A large balance per student is a commitment made by earlier boards and earlier voters, not a bill arriving this year. The debt service row above it is the part being paid now.
Funding measures on the ballot
Deer Trail School District No. 26J
$6.8M approved by voters in a single measure.
| Election | Measure | Amount | Yes | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2016 | Bond | $6.8M | 62.8% | Passed |
From the state’s own election file. Latest election on record: November 2023.
What this state publishes: Bond and mill levy override elections, as CDE records them, through 2023. Colorado districts put other questions to voters — kindergarten mill levies, and everything on a coordinated ballot that is not one of these two — and this file records none of them.
Ray Unified District
We have not read AZ’s election results, so this column is empty because of us and not because of Ray Unified District. Whether it has asked its voters for money is a question its county election office can answer and we cannot, yet.
Nobody has read AZ’s school election results yet — that is a gap on our side, not a fact about this district. Its county elections office holds what it asked its voters for and what they answered, and that is a public record you can request. What it says is worth asking about at a board meeting.
- A vote share is not an outcome. What it takes to carry varies by state and by measure — in some states a bond needs a supermajority and a minimum turnout while a levy on the same ballot needs half, so a clear majority can still lose. Every outcome shown here is copied from the state’s own election file, and the rule that applied is stated with the coverage above. Where that file stated no outcome we show whatever count it published and no verdict, rather than working one out from the percentage — and some states publish the ballot question without ever recording a count, so a blank there is a number nobody printed.
- These are the measures a district put to its voters, not its whole tax bill. A property tax bill also carries county, city and state levies that have nothing to do with schools, and in most states a school board can issue some kinds of debt with no vote at all.
What this band does not answer yet
The detailed figures for Deer Trail School District No. 26J and Ray Unified District
The verdict, the headline dollar, the funding shares, who is served and every comparability caveat are free above, and stay free. What is behind the lock is the detail you would want before acting on any of it:
- capital spending per student
- total revenue and total current spending, and the funding mix in dollars (the percentage shares stay free)
- the ten-line per-student breakdown of where the money goes
- counselor and administrator ratios, and the total salary bill
- the debt behind the risk flags — per student, and as a share of spending
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Deer Trail School District No. 26J on its own · Ray Unified District on its own