Death Valley Unified operates 3 public schools serving 24 students, placing it among the smaller districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 elementary, 1 other, 1 high schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage before they move, rent, or enrol. Aggregated across those campuses, enrollment totals 23 pupils using the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is geographically located in Inyo County County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $56,357 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 56.7% local, 28.0% state, and 15.3% 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 $267,857 per NCES F-33, a signal of the district's ability to recruit and retain staff against neighbouring districts.
a 98.3:1 student-counselor ratio that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 23.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 48.5% Hispanic or Latino, 33.1% White across the district's schools.
Shoshone Elementary accounts for 73.9% of all Death Valley Unified student enrollment
That concentration — well above the 8.4% national median for largest-entity share — means Death Valley 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.
Death Valley Unified school enrollment varies 8.5× across entities
Death Valley Unified school enrollment ranges from 2 students (lowest) to 17 students (highest), a spread of 15 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.
Death Valley Unified student-counselor ratio is 98:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Death Valley Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 23.5% — 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 Death Valley Unified is typically wider than the Death Valley Unified-aggregate figure suggests.