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Benicia, California - 8 schools
An equity score of 37/100 ranks Benicia Unified #1087 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $13,115 per pupil, Benicia Unified ranks #1394 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
4,372
Total Enrollment
8
Schools
$13,115
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Benicia Unified operates 8 public schools serving 4,372 students, placing it among the smaller districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 elementary, 2 high, 1 middle, 1 combined 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 Solano County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $13,115 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 39.2% local, 54.6% state, and 6.2% 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 37/100, ranked #1087 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 1 of 8 schools offering Advanced Placement (19 AP courses district-wide), a 1158.8:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 22.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 39.1% White, 30.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.3% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Joe Henderson Elementary, with a diversity index of 72.9/100.
Its largest campus is Benicia High, enrolling 1,335 students (31% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Community Day, at 1 students, a 1335x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Benicia High accounts for 30.5% of all Benicia Unified student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Benicia 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.
Benicia Unified school enrollment varies 1335× across entities
Benicia Unified school enrollment ranges from 1 students (lowest) to 1,335 students (highest), a spread of 1,334 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Benicia Unified student-counselor ratio is 1159:1 — 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.
Benicia Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 22.0% — 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 Benicia Unified is typically wider than the Benicia Unified-aggregate figure suggests.