Education

K–12 education

The majority of K–12 students in Huntsville attend Huntsville City Schools. In the 2007–2008 school year 22,839 students attended Huntsville City Schools, 77% of all students scored at or above state and national ACT averages, and of the 1279 members of the graduating class, "approximately 92% of the students indicated that they planned to enter a post-secondary institution for further study, 43% obtained scholarship & monetary awards," and "received 2,988 scholarships totaling $33,619,040, had forty-one National Merit Scholars, three National Achievement Scholars, and two perfect ACT scores."

Of the 53 schools in the Huntsville City Schools system in 2007–2008, there were:

25 elementary, and Two K–8, which serve 10,836 students.

For grades 6–12, there are 11,696 students enrolled in the following schools:

Eleven middle schools (grades 6–8) Seven high schools Three special centers (two Schools of Choice and one Program of Choice ) Four magnet schools (two with grades K–8 and two with grades 9–12)

The two magnet elementary schools are the Academy for Academics and Arts and the Academy for Science and Foreign Language. The three magnet middle schools are Williams Technology, The Academy for Academics and Arts, and the Academy for Science and Foreign Language, and the two magnet high schools are Lee High School (Huntsville, Alabama) and New Century Technology High School.

Approximately 21 private, parochial, and religious schools serve students in grades pre-K–12. There are several accredited private Christian schools in the city. Among them are Pope John Paul II Catholic High School, Faith Christian Academy, Oakwood Adventist Academy, and Westminster Christian Academy. Randolph School is the only independent, private K-12 school in the city.

60% of HCS teachers have at least a master's degree or better.

Budgeting

The following was the disposition of annual funding in 2007: Instructional services - 54%, Instruction support services - 15%, Operation and maintenance - 11%, capital outlay - 8%, auxiliary services - 7%, general administrative services - 3%, and debt and other expenditures - 2%.

Higher education

Huntsville's higher education institutions are:

Alabama A&M University J.F. Drake State Technical College Oakwood University University of Alabama in Huntsville Southeastern Institute of Technology (inactive)

The University of Alabama in Huntsville is the largest university serving the greater Huntsville area. The research-intensive university has more than 7,700 students. Approximately half of the university’s graduates earn a degree in engineering or science, making the university one of the largest producers of engineers and physical scientists in Alabama. UAHuntsville has been ranked by the Carnegie Foundation as a very high research institution, placing it among the top 75 public research universities in the nation. UAHuntsville is also ranked as a Tier 1 national university by U.S. News & World Report.

Oakwood University, founded in 1896, is a Seventh-day Adventist university with over 1,800 students and a member institution of the United Negro College Fund. It is one of the nation's leading producers of successful Black applicants to medical schools. The school was USCAA National Basketball Champions (2008) and the winner of the 19th and 20th Honda Campus All-Star Challenge National Championship Tournaments (2008 and 2009).

Various colleges and universities have satellite locations or extensions in Huntsville:

Athens State University Calhoun Community College Calhoun Community College at Cummings Research Park Calhoun Community College at Redstone Arsenal Columbia College Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Faulkner University Florida Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology Huntsville Regional Medical Campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine Virginia College Huntsville Hospital and Crestwood Medical Center has an accredited school of radiologic technology