Enrollment
207
California · 2024-25 NCES data
High school (grades 9-12) · Freedom, CA
Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter
Federal NCES profile for Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 34/100.
2024-25 NCES dataHigh school (grades 9-12)NCES 069103614200Charter school
👥 S:T ratio 0
📚 AP courses 10
🌟 Gifted program 30
📋 Attendance 98
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter earns 34/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes larger than 95% of California schools.
- 34
- Resource Index · Typical
- 29.6:1
- large classes for California
- 13.5%
- free-lunch eligible
- 207
- students enrolled
Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter has class sizes larger than 95% of California schools. Computed live against every California school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Santa Cruz County Office of Education · California
NCES ID 069103614200 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
7.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
29.6:1
vs 21.5:1 California avg
+38% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
13.5%
vs 55.5% California avg
-76% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter compares with California and U.S. medians
What stands out at Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter
Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter is a lower-poverty, mid-sized charter high school in Freedom, California, enrolling 207 students.
Class loads run heavy: 29.6:1 is larger than about 95% of California schools and 38% above the 21.5:1 state mean, so each teacher carries more students than is typical.
Comparatively few students face economic hardship here, 13.5% free-meal eligibility runs 76% below the California average.
Enrollment of 207 puts it in the smaller third of California schools by headcount.
Its Resource Investment Index lands in the upper third of 9,998 scored California schools.
Against 136 statewide peers matched on enrollment and economic need, it ranks in the upper tier at #35.
Its student body is led by Hispanic or Latino (78%) and White (21%) (diversity index 35/100).
No Advanced Placement courses are reported for this campus in the federal data.
Attendance holds up well here: only 1.0% of students were chronically absent, below the typical post-pandemic national figure.
The surrounding Santa Cruz County Office of Education spends $48,496 per pupil, 194% above the California average, a better-resourced district than most.
Santa Cruz County Office of Education also operates Santa Cruz County Community (730 students) and Santa Cruz County Special Education (105 students) alongside Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter.
Sourced from NCES CCD, CRDC, and F-33 (federal records, not a quality verdict). How we source and compute this.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data + CRDC + F-33 · 2024-25
How Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter compares
Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter on the metrics families compare, against California and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs California | California avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher | 29.6:1 | ▲ 38% | 21.5:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 13.5% | ▼ 76% | 55.5% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 207 | top 82% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
29.6:1
Leaner classes than 2% of US schools, heavier class loads than most.
207
Bigger than 20% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
13.5%
free-lunch eligible
- 76% below the California average of 55.5%
Below the 40% Title I threshold, among the lower-need profiles in the state; federal aid targets individual qualifying students rather than schoolwide programs.
Staffing depth
29.6:1
students per teacher
- 38% above state mean
Top 95% in California - lower ratio than 5% of state schools
Well above 20:1, one of the more stretched staffing loads nationally relative to enrollment.
Engagement
1.0%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
Below 5%, comfortably under the pre-pandemic national baseline for chronic absenteeism.
Funding equity
$48,496
per pupil, district-wide
- above California avg of $16,509
Well above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting substantially higher local or state investment per enrolled student.
Support staff
Counselors0.0 FTE
Student-support staffing from the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Discipline context
0
in-school suspensions + 0 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Overview
- Common Core of Data (June 2026): enrollment, staffing, and the student-teacher ratio above.
- Civil Rights Data Collection: discipline counts and program access (AP, gifted, special education).
- F-33 School District Finance Survey: the district-wide per-pupil spending figures below.
Three separate federal collections, each on its own reporting cadence - which is why this school's numbers line up on a consistent basis against every other school and state on this site, rather than mixing figures pulled from different survey years.
Student demographics
Hispanic or Latino 77.8%
White 21.3%
Asian 0.5%
Two or More 0.5%
Largest group: Hispanic or Latino at 77.8% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 34.9/100
Simpson diversity index - at 34.9, Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter is less mixed than the California school average of 46.0.
Programs
AP program Not offered
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Santa Cruz County Office of Education, which includes Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter.
$48,496
Per student
+194%
vs California
Avg $16,509
+192%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 37.3%
State 52.7%
Federal 10.0%
Source: NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey District-level finance · FY 2021-22 Per-pupil expenditure reflects the district-wide average. Individual school budgets are not reported at the federal level.
How Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter Compares to District-Mates
| School | Enrollment | Economic Profile | Student-Teacher Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz County Community | Larger | Higher economic need | Lower S:T ratio |
| Santa Cruz County Special Education | Smaller | Higher economic need | Lower S:T ratio |
| Santa Cruz County Court | Smaller | Higher economic need | Lower S:T ratio |
Comparisons are relative to Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.
Other Schools in This District
- Enrollment
- 730
- Students per teacher
- 24.3:1
- Resource Index
- 20/100
- Enrollment
- 105
- Students per teacher
- 7.5:1
- Resource Index
- 33/100
- Enrollment
- 20
- Students per teacher
- 5:1
- Resource Index
- 55/100
Similar high schools statewide
Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of California, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Similar enrollment (~207 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~29.6:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter's federal record.
- Compare Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter against another school. Compare schools
- Santa Cruz County Office of Education's spending and staffing shape this school. District profile
- Confirm current enrollment and boundaries with the school. Choosing guide
Federal record (CCD 2024-25, CRDC 2021-22) - PlainSchools assigns no subjective rating; the composite quality score is a transparent, reproducible index computed from this cited federal data.
Frequently asked questions about Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter
How many students attend Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter?
Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter has 207 students enrolled. It is a high school in Freedom, CA.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter?
The student-teacher ratio at Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter is 29.6:1, which is 38% higher than the California average of 21.5:1 and 89% higher than the national average of 15.7:1.
What percentage of students receive free lunch at Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter?
13.5% of students at Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter are eligible for free lunch, compared to the California average of 55.5%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter?
The largest demographic group at Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter is Hispanic or Latino at 77.8% of enrollment, in Freedom, CA.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter?
Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter has a Resource Investment Index of 34/100 (typical reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 4 factors: student-teacher ratio, attendance rates. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).
Is Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter a good school?
Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter earns 34/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes larger than 95% of California schools. This is a resource snapshot, not an academic rating; see the Resource Investment Index question above for what the number does and doesn't measure.
What other schools are in Santa Cruz County Office of Education?
Besides Santa Cruz County Career Advancement Charter, Santa Cruz County Office of Education also operates Santa Cruz County Community (730 students), Santa Cruz County Special Education (105 students), and Santa Cruz County Court (20 students). See the Santa Cruz County Office of Education district page for the complete list.
Related tools
Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal records, no number is typed in by an editor. Each school's figures reflect its most recent NCES/CRDC submission on file. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.