An equity score of 70/100 ranks Gustine Unified #275 of 1526 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $17,873 per pupil, Gustine Unified ranks #843 of 1880 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,746
Total Enrollment
5
Schools
$17,873
Per-Pupil Spending
High, Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Gustine Unified operates 5 public schools serving 1,746 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 high, 2 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 Merced County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $17,873 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 1880 California districts by per-pupil spending. See how California compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 16.5% local, 70.6% state, and 12.8% 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 70/100, ranked #275 of 1526 in California against a state average of 50, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 5 schools offering Advanced Placement (10 AP courses district-wide), a 290.7:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 45.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 89.4% Hispanic or Latino, 6.1% White, 0.9% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Gustine High, with a diversity index of 27.9/100.
Its largest campus is Gustine High, enrolling 531 students (33% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Pioneer High (Continuation), at 18 students, a 30x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Gustine High accounts for 30.4% of all Gustine Unified student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Gustine Unified-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade band: high. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how the district allocates programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.
Gustine Unified school enrollment varies 30× across entities
Gustine Unified school enrollment ranges from 18 students (lowest) to 531 students (highest), a spread of 513 students. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
The reported share sits between 62.5% and 75%, above a simple majority but below the highest descriptive band used here. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.
Gustine Unified student-counselor ratio is 291:1 — 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 Gustine Unified is typically wider than the Gustine Unified-aggregate figure suggests.
Gustine Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 45.4% — 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.