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Ballico, California - 2 schools
An equity score of 52/100 ranks Ballico-Cressey Elementary #711 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $14,384 per pupil, Ballico-Cressey Elementary ranks #1117 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
369
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$14,384
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Ballico-Cressey Elementary operates 2 public schools serving 369 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Merced County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $14,384 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 29.8% local, 57.6% state, and 12.6% federal, a state-revenue-heavy mix that insulates the district somewhat from local property-tax volatility, though it ties funding to state budget cycles. The district's equity score is 52/100, ranked #711 of 1517 in California against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 168:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 29.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 67.3% Hispanic or Latino, 28.3% White, 0.5% Asian across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Ballico-Cressey Community Charter, enrolling 293 students (87% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Cressey Elementary, at 43 students, a 7x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Ballico-Cressey Community Charter accounts for 79.4% of all Ballico-Cressey Elementary student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Ballico-Cressey Elementary a distant remainder — means Ballico-Cressey Elementary-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: elementary. 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.
Ballico-Cressey Elementary student-counselor ratio is 168:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Ballico-Cressey Elementary chronic absenteeism rate is 29.0% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
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 Variation between sub-units within Ballico-Cressey Elementary is typically wider than the Ballico-Cressey Elementary-aggregate figure suggests.