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La Quinta, California - 34 schools
An equity score of 46/100 ranks Desert Sands Unified #862 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $15,695 per pupil, Desert Sands Unified ranks #809 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
26,379
Total Enrollment
34
Schools
$15,695
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Desert Sands Unified operates 34 public schools serving 26,379 students, placing it in the mid-size range in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 19 elementary, 7 high, 7 middle, 1 combined schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage 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 Riverside County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $15,695 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 38.4% local, 50.5% state, and 11.0% 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 46/100, ranked #862 of 1517 in California against a state average of 50, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 5 of 34 schools offering Advanced Placement (61 AP courses district-wide), a 445.6:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 48.3% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 78.5% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% White, 2.7% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is James Earl Carter Elementary, with a diversity index of 64.6/100.
Its largest campus is La Quinta High, enrolling 2,425 students (9% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Desert Sands a.T.L.a.S., at 69 students, a 35x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Desert Sands Unified school enrollment varies 35× across entities
Desert Sands Unified school enrollment ranges from 69 students (lowest) to 2,425 students (highest), a spread of 2,356 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme enrollment heterogeneity, the district operates both small specialty programs and large comprehensive campuses inside a single budgeting unit. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Desert Sands Unified has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 63.6% 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). Eligibility here is approaching the 75% concentration-grant threshold; it does not yet unlock the extra funding tier but sits meaningfully above the baseline 50% majority mark. 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.
Desert Sands Unified student-counselor ratio is 446:1 — 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.
Desert Sands Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 48.3% — 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.