NCES CCD 2024-25 16 schools CA

Best-Resourced Schools in San Luis Obispo, CA

Compiled from official source data by .

16 public K-12 schools in San Luis Obispo from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

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16
Schools
5,979
Students
32.8/100
Avg Resource Index
20:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Lean reported-resource profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, San Luis Obispo has more public-school enrollment than 63% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. San Luis Obispo's average Resource Investment Index falls in the lower portion of the 4,487-city comparison set. The index is a resource snapshot, not an academic grade: it reflects the federal staffing, counselor, gifted-program, and attendance fields available for local campuses. The most useful next step is to open the individual schools below and identify which component is pulling each score down, because the same city average can hide very different campus-level constraints.

The school portfolio is elementary-weighted

8 of San Luis Obispo's 16 listed schools are elementary campuses. That composition means citywide enrollment and staffing averages are influenced more by early-grade operating patterns than by the city's 1 middle and 3 high-school records. Families comparing later grades should rely on those individual rows rather than the all-school mean.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 54-point gap between San Luis County Special Education and Hawthorne Elementary shows the range hidden by San Luis Obispo's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 37%
School count
Top 21%
Resource Index average
19th percentile
Teacher staffing
16th percentile

San Luis Obispo High accounts for 28.1% of all San Luis Obispo public-school enrollment

That dominant concentration means San Luis Obispo-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data NCES Common Core of Data

San Luis Obispo school enrollment varies 153× across entities

San Luis Obispo school enrollment ranges from 11 students (lowest) to 1,678 students (highest), a spread of 1,667 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data NCES Common Core of Data

San Luis Obispo student-teacher ratio is 20.0:1 — high (typically associated with larger urban scale or staffing constraints that have widened the headcount gap)

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

2 of San Luis Obispo's 16 listed schools are charters

13% of the city's listed public-school campuses are reported as charter schools in NCES CCD. Charter status identifies a different governance arrangement; it does not establish admissions availability, academic quality, or the share of city students enrolled in those campuses. Open each school record to compare enrollment and staffing directly.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data NCES Common Core of Data

# School Score
1. San Luis County Special Education 68
2. San Luis Obispo County Juvenile Court 63
3. Grizzly Challenge Charter 50
4. Peep - Prepare 50
5. Pacific Beach High 34
6. Bellevue-Santa Fe Charter 33
7. San Luis Obispo County Community 32
8. Laguna Middle 27
9. Teach Elementary 26
10. San Luis Obispo High 24
11. Pacheco Elementary 23
12. Bishop's Peak Elementary 23
13. Los Ranchos Elementary 22
14. Sinsheimer Elementary 20
15. C L Smith Elementary 16
16. Hawthorne Elementary 14

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in San Luis Obispo

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Peep - Prepare 65.9/100
  2. 2 Hawthorne Elementary 63.1/100
  3. 3 C L Smith Elementary 61.3/100
  4. 4 Laguna Middle 59.9/100
  5. 5 Pacific Beach High 57.9/100

What do families ask about schools in San Luis Obispo?

Which San Luis Obispo school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

San Luis County Special Education has the highest Resource Investment Index among the San Luis Obispo schools in this federal-data comparison at 68/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in San Luis Obispo, CA? ▼

San Luis Obispo has 16 public schools with a total enrollment of 5,979 students. 2 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 20:1.

Other Cities in California

Los Angeles
574 schools
San Diego
284 schools
San Jose
234 schools
Sacramento
197 schools
Fresno
180 schools
Bakersfield
146 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in California →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.