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Carpinteria, California - 6 schools
An equity score of 59/100 ranks Carpinteria Unified #517 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $17,521 per pupil, Carpinteria Unified ranks #455 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,010
Total Enrollment
6
Schools
$17,521
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Carpinteria Unified operates 6 public schools serving 2,010 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 4 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle 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 Santa Barbara County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $17,521 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 72.9% local, 18.7% state, and 8.4% 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 59/100, ranked #517 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 6 schools offering Advanced Placement (11 AP courses district-wide), a 322.9:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 33.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 57.8% Hispanic or Latino, 38.5% White, 0.9% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Canalino Elementary, with a diversity index of 48.8/100.
Its largest campus is Carpinteria Senior High, enrolling 593 students (31% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Carpinteria Family, at 45 students, a 13x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Carpinteria Senior High accounts for 29.5% of all Carpinteria Unified student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Carpinteria 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.
Carpinteria Unified school enrollment varies 13× across entities
Carpinteria Unified school enrollment ranges from 45 students (lowest) to 593 students (highest), a spread of 548 students. That spread reflects typical mixed-portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Carpinteria Unified student-counselor ratio is 323:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
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 Variation between sub-units within Carpinteria Unified is typically wider than the Carpinteria Unified-aggregate figure suggests.
Carpinteria Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 33.5% — 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.