Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal
records, no number is typed in by an editor. District totals are aggregated directly from the schools reporting under this district in the source records. See our
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Santa Barbara, California - 3 schools
An equity score of 49/100 ranks Hope Elementary #789 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $17,118 per pupil, Hope Elementary ranks #514 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
839
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$17,118
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Hope Elementary operates 3 public schools serving 839 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 3 elementary 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 Santa Barbara County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $17,118 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 77.9% local, 14.5% state, and 7.7% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 49/100, ranked #789 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.
and 20.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 50.3% White, 39.8% Hispanic or Latino, 3.6% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Hope Elementary, with a diversity index of 59.6/100.
Its largest campus is Vieja Valley Elementary, enrolling 313 students (36% of the district's total enrollment).
Vieja Valley Elementary accounts for 36.4% of all Hope Elementary student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Hope 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.
Hope Elementary chronic absenteeism rate is 20.8% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
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 Variation between sub-units within Hope Elementary is typically wider than the Hope Elementary-aggregate figure suggests.