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Fortuna, California - 3 schools
An equity score of 45/100 ranks Fortuna Union High #888 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $14,197 per pupil, Fortuna Union High ranks #1163 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,066
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$14,197
Per-Pupil Spending
High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Fortuna Union High operates 3 public schools serving 1,066 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 high 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 Humboldt County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $14,197 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 39.8% local, 49.0% state, and 11.2% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one. The district's equity score is 45/100, ranked #888 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 1 of 3 schools offering Advanced Placement (10 AP courses district-wide), a 142.2:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 34.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 57.8% White, 29.8% Hispanic or Latino, 1.7% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is East High (Continuation), with a diversity index of 58.7/100.
Its largest campus is Fortuna Union High, enrolling 826 students (79% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is East High (Continuation), at 66 students, a 13x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Fortuna Union High accounts for 77.5% of all Fortuna Union High student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Fortuna Union High a distant remainder — means Fortuna Union High-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.
Fortuna Union High school enrollment varies 13× across entities
Fortuna Union High school enrollment ranges from 66 students (lowest) to 826 students (highest), a spread of 760 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.
Fortuna Union High student-counselor ratio is 142:1 — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 below typical often correlate with unusually small scale or population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se — worth checking whether the underlying denominator is itself an outlier.
Fortuna Union High chronic absenteeism rate is 34.4% — 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.