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Wasco, California - 1 schools
At $17,637 per pupil, Pond Union Elementary ranks #436 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
184
Total Enrollment
1
Schools
$17,637
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Pond Union Elementary operates 1 public schools serving 184 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 Kern County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $17,637 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 38.5% local, 46.4% state, and 15.1% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one.
and 21.7% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 91.4% Hispanic or Latino, 4.6% White, 1.1% Asian across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Pond Elementary, enrolling 175 students (100% of the district's total enrollment).
Pond Elementary accounts for 95.1% of all Pond Union Elementary student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Pond Union Elementary a distant remainder — means Pond Union 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.
Pond Union Elementary has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 83.2% 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.
Pond Union Elementary chronic absenteeism rate is 21.7% — 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 Pond Union Elementary is typically wider than the Pond Union Elementary-aggregate figure suggests.
Pond Union Elementary has 1 school, including 1 elementary. Total enrollment is 184 students.
How much does Pond Union Elementary spend per student?
Pond Union Elementary spends $17,637 per student.
What is the demographic composition of Pond Union Elementary?
Pond Union Elementary students are 91.4% Hispanic or Latino, 4.6% White, 1.1% Asian, 0.6% African American, averaged across 1 school. Source: NCES CCD Membership 2024-25.