Mattole Unified operates 3 public schools serving 34 students, placing it among the smaller districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 1 high schools, giving families a clear picture of grade-band coverage before they move, rent, or enrol. Aggregated across those campuses, enrollment totals 42 pupils using the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is geographically located in Humboldt County County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $25,732 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, which aggregates every revenue and spending line reported under federal accounting standards. The funding mix is 54.7% local, 43.1% state, and 2.2% federal — a breakdown that matters because districts leaning heavily on local revenue are more exposed to property-tax swings, while higher federal shares typically track Title I concentration. Average teacher compensation clocks in at $155,122 per NCES F-33, a signal of the district's ability to recruit and retain staff against neighbouring districts.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 3 schools offering Advanced Placement (1 AP courses district-wide), a 2:1 student-counselor ratio that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 15.1% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 46.8% White, 34.5% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools.
Mattole Elementary accounts for 64.3% of all Mattole Unified student enrollment
That concentration — well above the 8.4% national median for largest-entity share — means Mattole Unified-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.
Mattole Unified school enrollment varies 14× across entities
Mattole Unified school enrollment ranges from 2 students (lowest) to 27 students (highest), a spread of 25 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.
Mattole Unified student-counselor ratio is 2:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Mattole Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 15.1% — 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 Mattole Unified is typically wider than the Mattole Unified-aggregate figure suggests.