At $37,967 per pupil, Pioneer Union Elementary ranks #41 of 1880 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
30
Total Enrollment
1
Schools
$37,967
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Pioneer Union Elementary operates 1 public schools serving 30 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 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 Butte County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $37,967 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 188 of 1880 California districts by per-pupil spending. See how California compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 90.4% local, 4.8% state, and 4.8% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers.
and 48.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 65.9% White, 19.5% Hispanic or Latino, 2.4% Asian across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Berry Creek Elementary, enrolling 41 students (100% of the district's total enrollment).
Enrollment across the district's NCES-reporting campuses grew 6.7% between 2022-23 and 2023-24 (30 to 32 students), while the student-teacher ratio widened by 0.7 students per teacher, per the NCES Common Core of Data annual universe files.
Of the district's $2,444,000 in reported FY2023 expenditures, 25.1% went to instruction, 20.6% to support services, and 48% to capital outlay, a capital-heavy year, consistent with active construction, renovation, or major equipment purchases. Figures come from the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey's function-level breakdown, not the aggregate per-pupil figure above.
Berry Creek Elementary accounts for 100.0% of all Pioneer Union Elementary student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Pioneer Union Elementary a distant remainder — means Pioneer Union Elementary-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade band: elementary. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how the district allocates programs, capital, or staff. Because it contains a majority of the affected population, enrollment-weighted aggregates will sit closer to this entity's reported fields than to those of smaller peers; an unweighted entity count answers a different question.
Pioneer Union Elementary reports 90.0% free-lunch eligibility
The reported share is above 87.5%, so economic need is widespread across the measured student population. 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.
Pioneer Union Elementary chronic absenteeism rate is 48.8% — 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.
Pioneer Union Elementary has 1 school, including 1 elementary. Total enrollment is 30 students.
How much does Pioneer Union Elementary spend per student?
Pioneer Union Elementary spends $37,967 per student.
What is the demographic composition of Pioneer Union Elementary?
Pioneer Union Elementary students are 65.9% White, 19.5% Hispanic or Latino, 2.4% Asian, averaged across 1 school. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.