Tallahassee Schools

Leon County Schools, the school district NCES lists for Leon County, runs the traditional public schools in Tallahassee from an office on West Pensacola Street.

The National Center for Education Statistics lists the district as LEON, NCES District ID 1201110 and state district ID FL-37, a regular local school district serving prekindergarten through grade 12 in Leon County, with a locale code of City, Midsize (NCES district detail, Leon (1201110)). The district gives its office address as 2757 West Pensacola Street, Tallahassee, FL 32304, and its phone as 850-487-7100 (Leon County Schools home page).

The Leon County Schools site names Rocky Hanna as Superintendent and Dr. Michelle Gayle as Deputy Superintendent, with Shane Syfrett and Deana Y. McAllister as Assistant Superintendents (Leon County Schools home page). The district also runs Lively Technical College, Adult and Community Education, Leon County Virtual School and other schools such as Gretchen Everhart School, all listed on its school menu next to the Tallahassee neighborhood schools (Leon County Schools home page).

Leon County Schools enrolled 31,645 students in the 2024-2025 school year, with 1,847.14 full time equivalent classroom teachers, a ratio of 17.13 students per teacher (NCES district detail, Leon (1201110)).

Source for the table: NCES district detail, Leon (1201110). Of the Leon County teacher count, NCES places 745.31 positions in elementary grades, 708.30 in secondary grades, 120.00 in kindergarten and 8.00 in prekindergarten (NCES district detail, Leon (1201110)). The school count and the enrollment come from different NCES releases: the directory of 53 schools is preliminary 2025-2026 data, while student and staff figures are the official 2024-2025 district data, as the NCES notes on the same page explain (NCES district detail, Leon (1201110)).

The Florida Department of Education gave Leon County Schools a B for 2026, from 771 points or 64 percent of the possible total, the same letter it earned in 2025 and 2024 (FLDOE 2025-26 District Grades file).

Source for the table: FLDOE 2025-26 District Grades file. The state's scale for district grades sets an A at 65 percent of points or greater and a B at 60 to 64 percent, so Leon's 64 percent sits at the top of the B band (FLDOE 2025-26 District Grades file). Leon earned an A on the same file in 2011 and 2010 and a C in 2013 (FLDOE 2025-26 District Grades file). The department's accountability page lists the 2026 school grades overview, school by school results and a results packet updated September 8, 2026, for anyone checking an individual Tallahassee school (FLDOE school accountability reports page). This page uses only the state's own grades, not commercial school rankings.

Local sources paid the largest share of Leon County Schools revenue, 42 percent of $436,597,000, in the most recent NCES fiscal year, which is 2022-2023 (NCES district detail, Leon (1201110)).

State revenue supplied $174,832,000, or 40 percent, and federal revenue $80,389,000, or 18 percent, for total revenue of $13,554 per Leon County student (NCES district detail, Leon (1201110)). Total expenditures were $418,326,000, of which instructional spending was $201,868,000, listed by NCES at 57 percent, and administration $50,810,000, or 14 percent (NCES district detail, Leon (1201110)). Capital outlay was $27,884,000 (NCES district detail, Leon (1201110)).

Those 2022-2023 fiscal figures are two school years older than the 2024-2025 Leon County enrollment figures on the same NCES page, so a reader comparing spending per student with current enrollment is mixing years (NCES district detail, Leon (1201110)). Local school taxes are a live subject: the Leon County Schools home page carries links for a half penny sales tax renewal and a millage referendum (Leon County Schools home page).

The Leon County School Board has five members elected by district to four year terms, plus a student member, and it meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 6:00 p.m. (Leon County School Board page).

The board page lists Alva Swafford Smith for District 1, Rosanne Wood for District 2, Darryl Jones for District 3 as Vice Chair, Laurie Lawson Cox for District 4 and Dr. Marcus Nicolas for District 5 as Chair, and notes that the board elects its Chair every November (Leon County School Board page). Meetings are held at the Aquilina C. Howell Instructional Services Center, 3955 West Pensacola Street in Tallahassee, and an agenda review session meets on the second and fourth Mondays at 3:00 p.m. (Leon County School Board page).

The 2026 calendar on that page lists the remaining meetings as October 27 and a November 17 Reorganization Meeting (Leon County School Board page). Regular meetings are broadcast on Comcast channel 1095-TV and streamed live, and people who cannot attend can email a comment for the public record to [email protected] (Leon County School Board page). The Leon County School Board guide covers the seats and the superintendent's office in more depth.

Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee State College each publish their own figures, and each is described below in those figures only.

Florida State University says it was founded in 1851, says its campus is on the oldest continuous site of higher education in Florida, and reports 46,184 students and a 487.6 acre main campus in Tallahassee (Florida State University, About). Florida A&M University says it was founded October 3, 1887, is a public, historically Black university located in Tallahassee, and enrolls nearly 10,000 students (Florida A&M University, About).

Tallahassee State College says it has served Leon, Gadsden and Wakulla counties for more than half a century, offers more than 100 degree and certificate programs, and runs seven locations across its three county service district (Tallahassee State College, About). The Florida State University Schools guide covers the Tallahassee K-12 lab school known as Florida High, and the two history guides trace how FSU and Tallahassee State College got their current names.

Ten Tallahassee schools guides each take one institution or question; the table matches each guide to the question it answers.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, with the NCES record for district 1201110, the FLDOE district grades spreadsheet dated September 1, 2026, the Leon County Schools home and School Board pages, and the about pages of FSU, FAMU and Tallahassee State College.