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Willows, California - 4 schools
An equity score of 40/100 ranks Willows Unified #1016 of 1517 districts in California (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $12,914 per pupil, Willows Unified ranks #1436 of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending (California districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
1,391
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$12,914
Per-Pupil Spending
High, Elementary
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Willows Unified operates 4 public schools serving 1,391 students, placing it among the smallest districts in California. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 high, 1 elementary, 1 middle 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 Glenn County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $12,914 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 1862 California districts by per-pupil spending. See how California compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 28.9% local, 63.1% state, and 8.0% 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 40/100, ranked #1016 of 1517 in California against a state average of 50, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 4 schools offering Advanced Placement (4 AP courses district-wide), a 322.4:1 student-counselor ratio, somewhat above the 250:1 ASCA recommendation, and 32.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 51.6% Hispanic or Latino, 33.3% White, 4.0% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Willows Community High, with a diversity index of 64.2/100.
Its largest campus is Murdock Elementary, enrolling 488 students (35% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Willows Community High, at 24 students, a 20x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Murdock Elementary accounts for 34.9% of all Willows Unified student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Willows 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.
Willows Unified school enrollment varies 20× across entities
Willows Unified school enrollment ranges from 24 students (lowest) to 488 students (highest), a spread of 464 students. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Willows Unified has higher-than-average Title I eligibility — 68.5% 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). Eligibility here is approaching the 75% concentration-grant threshold; it does not yet unlock the extra funding tier but sits meaningfully above the baseline 50% majority mark. 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.
Willows Unified student-counselor ratio is 322:1 — near the typical range (US average ~408) — within the typical range for U.S. public districts
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 Variation between sub-units within Willows Unified is typically wider than the Willows Unified-aggregate figure suggests.
Willows Unified chronic absenteeism rate is 32.6% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
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 Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.