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Eureka, California - 2 schools
An equity score of 36/100 ranks Freshwater Elementary #1129 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $14,407 per pupil, Freshwater Elementary ranks #1110 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
307
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$14,407
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Freshwater Elementary operates 2 public schools serving 307 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 elementary, 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 Humboldt County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $14,407 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 26.6% local, 59.5% state, and 13.9% 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 36/100, ranked #1129 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 63.7:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 6.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 67.8% White, 19.4% Hispanic or Latino, 1.0% Asian across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Freshwater Elementary, enrolling 283 students (85% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Freshwater Charter Middle, at 51 students, a 6x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Freshwater Elementary accounts for 84.7% of all Freshwater Elementary student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Freshwater Elementary a distant remainder — means Freshwater Elementary-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.
Freshwater Elementary student-counselor ratio is 64:1 — 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.
Freshwater Elementary chronic absenteeism rate is 6.5% — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 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.