Best Public Schools in Dulce, NM

Dulce, New Mexico is a small community served by three public schools — one elementary, one middle, and one high school — all part of Dulce Independent Schools, with 554 students in total. Dulce Elementary serves PK–5 with 264 students, Dulce Middle serves grades 6–8 with 130 students, and Dulce High serves grades 9–12 with 160 students. The district is rated 86th out of 87 New Mexico districts — the 1st percentile, with 0 stars — and that district rating applies to all three schools. Nearly every student is economically disadvantaged: free/reduced-price lunch rates run from 98.46% to 99.38%, roughly 98.9% across the district.

Comparing the schools, Dulce High has the clearest bright spot: an 87.6% graduation rate in 2024–2025, about 7 percentage points above the state's 80.6%. It also had the strongest rank history of the three, at 142nd of 170 (16th percentile, 1 star) in 2022–2023 and 148th of 172 (14th percentile, 1 star) in 2023–2024, though no 2025–2026 rank is listed. Dulce Middle improved its rank, from 239th of 239 (0th percentile) in 2022–2023 to 175th of 191 (8th percentile, 0 stars) in 2025–2026, but it has the highest student-teacher ratio at 14.0, versus 8.2 at the elementary and 9.8 at the high school. Dulce Elementary is the lowest-ranked, at 345th of 346 (0th percentile, 0 stars) in 2025–2026.

Test scores are low across all three schools. In English language arts, the elementary school's all-grade rate is 20% and the middle school's is 17.95%, compared with 44.66% statewide. Math is the weakest area: the elementary school is at 5.19%, the middle school is under 10%, and the high school is under 20%, against 27.85% statewide. Science results are similarly low, with the middle school's 8th grade at 16.67%. The strongest pockets are 4th grade ELA at the elementary school (30%) and 6th grade ELA at the middle school (28.12%), both still below state averages. Many scores are reported only as under 10% or under 20%, so read them as bounds rather than exact figures.