Washington High School

Washington High School is an expansive senior high in Tacoma, Washington, one of the schools within Franklin Pierce School District. The school teaches 989 students in grades 9 through 12. That puts it 73% bigger than the typical public school in Washington, which averages around 573 students.

Franklin Pierce School District runs 14 schools in total, collectively educating 7,187 students. Washington High School is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Washington High School shows that the largest single group is Hispanic at 33%, but no single group is in the majority. Beyond that, the school shows 23% White, 15% multiracial, 12% Black, 9% Pacific Islander. That is noticeably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 13%.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 56 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 17.6:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 21.6:1 average. Roughly 69% of students at Washington High School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Pierce County (around 50%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Washington High School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 33.9%; this one delivers 32.5%.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Pierce County indicate median household income runs about $99,564, about 31% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. In all, Pierce County runs 287 public schools (combined enrollment of about 138,462 students), of which Washington High School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Perry G Keithley Middle School, around 0.2 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Washington High School comes 4th of 7 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 33.2%.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting.

Five-year trend. Washington High School's enrollment has held roughly steady since 2018, when it stood at 985 (now 989). The White share of enrollment decreased from 32% to 23% over that span.

On this page, the feed for Washington High School typically covers science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.