Big Pine Unified operates 2 public schools serving 157 students, placing it among the smaller districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 elementary, 1 high schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage before they move, rent, or enrol. Aggregated across those campuses, enrollment totals 151 pupils using the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2022-23 release, and the district is geographically located in Inyo County County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $29,013 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, which aggregates every revenue and spending line reported under federal accounting standards. The funding mix is 65.9% local, 14.9% state, and 19.1% federal — a breakdown that matters because districts leaning heavily on local revenue are more exposed to property-tax swings, while higher federal shares typically track Title I concentration. Average teacher compensation clocks in at $135,377 per NCES F-33, a signal of the district's ability to recruit and retain staff against neighbouring districts.
a 400.5:1 student-counselor ratio, above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 52.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 30.6% Hispanic or Latino, 19.1% White across the district's schools.
Big Pine Elementary accounts for 80.1% of all Big Pine Unified student enrollment
That concentration — well above the 8.4% national median for largest-entity share — means Big Pine Unified-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.
Big Pine Unified has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 59.3% of the population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch
free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is the federal threshold for Title I funding allocations, established under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015). Areas above 75% eligibility receive concentration grants on top of the basic Title I formula. Regions with eligibility this high typically draw a substantially larger federal funding share relative to their local tax base, which can either offset or reinforce existing gaps depending on allocation policy.
Big Pine Unified student-counselor ratio is 401:1 — high (typically associated with staffing constraints that limit per-student counselor time; CRDC data shows higher ratios cluster in larger urban systems)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Big Pine Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 52.6% — 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.