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Gilroy, California - 14 schools
An equity score of 36/100 ranks Gilroy Unified #1110 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $14,495 per pupil, Gilroy Unified ranks #1089 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
10,428
Total Enrollment
14
Schools
$14,495
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Gilroy Unified operates 14 public schools serving 10,428 students, placing it among the smaller districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 7 elementary, 4 high, 3 middle schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly 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 Santa Clara County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $14,495 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 42.6% local, 47.7% state, and 9.7% 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 36/100, ranked #1110 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.
Academic infrastructure includes 3 of 14 schools offering Advanced Placement (25 AP courses district-wide), a 338.4:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 33.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 71.8% Hispanic or Latino, 10.2% White, 7.6% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Dr. Tj Owens Gilroy Early College Academy, with a diversity index of 66.3/100.
Its largest campus is Christopher High, enrolling 1,630 students (16% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Mt. Madonna High, at 150 students, a 11x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Christopher High accounts for 15.6% of all Gilroy Unified student enrollment
That concentration means Gilroy Unified-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.
Gilroy Unified school enrollment varies 11× across entities
Gilroy Unified school enrollment ranges from 150 students (lowest) to 1,630 students (highest), a spread of 1,480 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.
Gilroy Unified student-counselor ratio is 338:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
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 Variation between sub-units within Gilroy Unified is typically wider than the Gilroy Unified-aggregate figure suggests.
Gilroy Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 33.8% — 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.