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Columbia, California - 1 schools
An equity score of 40/100 ranks Columbia Union #1025 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $13,639 per pupil, Columbia Union ranks #1296 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
438
Total Enrollment
1
Schools
$13,639
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Columbia Union operates 1 public schools serving 438 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 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 Tuolumne County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $13,639 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 35.2% local, 51.3% state, and 13.5% 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 40/100, ranked #1025 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.
a 464:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 49.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 69.5% White, 20.5% Hispanic or Latino, 1.1% African American across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Columbia Elementary, enrolling 464 students (100% of the district's total enrollment).
Columbia Elementary accounts for 100.0% of all Columbia Union student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Columbia Union a distant remainder — means Columbia Union-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.
Columbia Union has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 50.3% 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.
Columbia Union student-counselor ratio is 464:1 — 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.
Columbia Union chronic absenteeism rate is 49.1% — 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.
Columbia Union has 1 school, including 1 elementary. Total enrollment is 438 students.
How much does Columbia Union spend per student?
Columbia Union spends $13,639 per student. The district has an equity score of 40/100, ranking #1025 in California.
What is the demographic composition of Columbia Union?
Columbia Union students are 69.5% White, 20.5% Hispanic or Latino, 1.1% African American, 0.9% Asian, averaged across 1 school. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.
What is the equity score for Columbia Union?
Columbia Union has an equity score of 40/100, ranking #1025 out of 1517 districts in California.