South Tama County High School

South Tama County High School is a middle-of-the-pack 9-12 campus in Tama, Iowa, part of South Tama County. The school hosts 421 students in grades 9 through 12.

South Tama County High School is one of 3 schools operated by South Tama County, a district that works with 1,368 students overall.

For racial and ethnic makeup, South Tama County High School shows that 47% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Other groups include 37% Hispanic, 8% Native American, 6% multiracial. By comparison, Tama County as a whole is about 80% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, The school employs 25 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 17.0:1. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 56% of students at South Tama County High School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, South Tama County High School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 64.0%, the actual is 55.3%, a residual of -8.7 points.

In the area at large, Tama County reports that the typical household earns roughly $70,781 per year, about 21% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. South Tama County High School is one of 10 public schools in Tama County (combined enrollment of about 2,770 students).

South Tama County Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 3 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts South Tama County High School at 7th of 7; the average score across the group is 67.5%.

South Tama County High School operates from a town-center location.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at South Tama County High School has decreased 11%, going from 472 students in 2018 to 421 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 54% to 47% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio grew from 15.2:1 in 2018 to 17.0:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.