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Laguna Beach, California - 4 schools
An equity score of 67/100 ranks Laguna Beach Unified #328 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $26,628 per pupil, Laguna Beach Unified ranks #89 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,456
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$26,628
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Laguna Beach Unified operates 4 public schools serving 2,456 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 1 high, 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 Orange County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $26,628 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 187 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending. See how California compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 86.1% local, 9.4% state, and 4.6% 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 67/100, ranked #328 of 1517 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 4 schools offering Advanced Placement (17 AP courses district-wide), a 368.4:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 22.3% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 70.7% White, 12.3% Hispanic or Latino, 6.3% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Top of the World Elementary, with a diversity index of 48.4/100.
Its largest campus is Laguna Beach High, enrolling 815 students (36% of the district's total enrollment).
Laguna Beach High accounts for 33.2% of all Laguna Beach Unified student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Laguna Beach 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.
Laguna Beach Unified school enrollment varies 2.0× across entities
Laguna Beach Unified school enrollment ranges from 404 students (lowest) to 815 students (highest), a spread of 411 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous campus portfolio, most districts have a wider mix of school sizes. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Laguna Beach Unified student-counselor ratio is 368:1 — high (typically associated with staffing constraints that limit per-student counselor time; CRDC data shows higher ratios cluster in larger urban systems)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Laguna Beach Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 22.3% — 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 Laguna Beach Unified is typically wider than the Laguna Beach Unified-aggregate figure suggests.