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Loyalton, California - 5 schools
An equity score of 60/100 ranks Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified #505 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,701 per pupil, Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified ranks #584 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
400
Total Enrollment
5
Schools
$16,701
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified operates 5 public schools serving 400 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 elementary, 2 combined, 1 high 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 Sierra County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,701 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, 52.2% state, and 9.3% 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 60/100, ranked #505 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 5 schools offering Advanced Placement (8 AP courses district-wide), and 15.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 66.6% White, 24.2% Hispanic or Latino, 0.2% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Downieville Elementary, with a diversity index of 63.0/100.
Its largest campus is Loyalton Elementary, enrolling 199 students (48% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Sierra Pass (Continuation), at 5 students, a 40x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Loyalton Elementary accounts for 48.1% of all Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified a distant remainder — means Sierra-Plumas Joint 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.
Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified school enrollment varies 40× across entities
Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified school enrollment ranges from 5 students (lowest) to 199 students (highest), a spread of 194 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.
Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 15.6% — 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 Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified is typically wider than the Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified-aggregate figure suggests.