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Atascadero, California - 12 schools
An equity score of 21/100 ranks Atascadero Unified #1420 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $13,091 per pupil, Atascadero Unified ranks #1399 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
4,296
Total Enrollment
12
Schools
$13,091
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Atascadero Unified operates 12 public schools serving 4,296 students, placing it among the smaller districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 8 elementary, 3 high, 1 middle schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly before they move, rent, or enrol. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in San Luis Obispo County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $13,091 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending. See how California compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 63.5% local, 30.2% state, and 6.3% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 21/100, ranked #1420 of 1517 in California against a state average of 50, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 2 of 12 schools offering Advanced Placement (14 AP courses district-wide), a 588.8:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 33.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 58.2% White, 31.4% Hispanic or Latino, 1.8% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is San Gabriel Elementary, with a diversity index of 61.8/100.
Its largest campus is Atascadero High, enrolling 1,157 students (27% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Carrisa Plains Elementary, at 21 students, a 55x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Atascadero High accounts for 26.6% of all Atascadero Unified student enrollment
That concentration means Atascadero Unified-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: high. A single dominant campus often anchors a district's program offerings and staffing patterns; the share helps explain why district-wide averages may not reflect the typical neighbourhood-school experience. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Atascadero Unified school enrollment varies 55× across entities
Atascadero Unified school enrollment ranges from 21 students (lowest) to 1,157 students (highest), a spread of 1,136 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme enrollment heterogeneity, the district operates both small specialty programs and large comprehensive campuses inside a single budgeting unit. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Atascadero Unified student-counselor ratio is 589:1 — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Values this far above typical often signal acute resource constraints or a structurally different scale than most peers — worth reading alongside the underlying counts, not the ratio alone.
Atascadero Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 33.1% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.