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Cedarville, California - 2 schools
At $16,652 per pupil, Surprise Valley Joint Unified ranks #599 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
96
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$16,652
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Surprise Valley Joint Unified operates 2 public schools serving 96 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 elementary, 1 combined 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 Modoc County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,652 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 34.7% local, 55.0% state, and 10.3% federal, a state-revenue-heavy mix that insulates the district somewhat from local property-tax volatility, though it ties funding to state budget cycles.
and 26.9% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 54.1% White, 23.6% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Surprise Valley Elementary, enrolling 51 students (57% of the district's total enrollment).
Surprise Valley Elementary accounts for 53.1% of all Surprise Valley Joint Unified student enrollment
That is an overwhelming concentration, leaving the rest of Surprise Valley Joint Unified a distant remainder — means Surprise Valley 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.
Surprise Valley Joint Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 26.9% — 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 Surprise Valley Joint Unified is typically wider than the Surprise Valley Joint Unified-aggregate figure suggests.
Comparisons are relative to Surprise Valley Joint Unified's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in California
Top districts in the same state, compare side-by-side for enrollment, spending, and demographics.