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Lancaster, California - 23 schools
An equity score of 64/100 ranks Lancaster Elementary #396 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,048 per pupil, Lancaster Elementary ranks #718 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
14,001
Total Enrollment
23
Schools
$16,048
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Lancaster Elementary operates 23 public schools serving 14,001 students, placing it in the mid-size range in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 18 elementary, 5 middle schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage 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 Los Angeles County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,048 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 16.4% local, 64.4% state, and 19.3% 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 64/100, ranked #396 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.
a 441.4:1 student-counselor ratio, above both the ASCA benchmark and the roughly 408:1 national average, and 54.3% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 56.6% Hispanic or Latino, 29.0% African American, 7.4% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Promise Academy, with a diversity index of 65.9/100.
Its largest campus is Amargosa Creek Middle, enrolling 859 students (6% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Rise, at 16 students, a 54x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Lancaster Elementary school enrollment varies 54× across entities
Lancaster Elementary school enrollment ranges from 16 students (lowest) to 859 students (highest), a spread of 843 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme enrollment heterogeneity, the district operates both small specialty programs and large comprehensive campuses inside a single budgeting unit. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Lancaster Elementary has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 79.5% of the population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch
free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is the federal threshold for Title I funding allocations, established under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015). Areas above 75% eligibility — including this one — receive concentration grants on top of the basic Title I formula. Regions with eligibility this high typically draw a substantially larger federal funding share relative to their local tax base, which can either offset or reinforce existing gaps depending on allocation policy.
Lancaster Elementary student-counselor ratio is 441:1 — 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.
Lancaster Elementary chronic absenteeism rate is 54.3% — 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.