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Calexico, California - 12 schools
An equity score of 79/100 ranks Calexico Unified #103 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $18,535 per pupil, Calexico Unified ranks #339 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
8,353
Total Enrollment
12
Schools
$18,535
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Calexico Unified operates 12 public schools serving 8,353 students, placing it among the smaller districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 7 elementary, 2 high, 2 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 Imperial County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $18,535 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending. See how California compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 10.2% local, 69.5% state, and 20.4% 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 79/100, ranked #103 of 1517 in California against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 12 schools offering Advanced Placement (7 AP courses district-wide), a 521.1:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 61.3% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 99.1% Hispanic or Latino, 0.4% White, 0.2% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Cesar Chavez Elementary, with a diversity index of 3.6/100.
Its largest campus is Calexico High, enrolling 2,746 students (34% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Pinnacle Hall Community Day, at 2 students, a 1373x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Calexico High accounts for 32.9% of all Calexico Unified student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Calexico 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.
Calexico Unified school enrollment varies 1373× across entities
Calexico Unified school enrollment ranges from 2 students (lowest) to 2,746 students (highest), a spread of 2,744 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.
Calexico Unified has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 83.6% 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 — including this one — 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.
Calexico Unified student-counselor ratio is 521:1 — 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.
Calexico Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 61.3% — well above typical (typically associated with unusually large scale or acute resource constraints)
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 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.