While the U.S. is one of the most educated countries in the world, it doesn’t provide the same quality elementary school or secondary school education to all students. In many states, more affluent school districts receive a greater amount of funding per student than poorer districts.
Discrepancies between the rich and poor have been exacerbated even more this year by the COVID-19 pandemic. As states decide whether their school districts will have in-person learning this fall, studies show that low-income students will suffer the greatest “learning loss” due to partial or total remote learning. One contributing factor is that people in low-income districts are less likely to have the technological resources they need.
States that provide equitable funding to all school districts can help prevent poor students from having lower graduation rates, lower rates of pursuing higher education and smaller future incomes than their wealthy peers. The difference is dramatic: College graduates have $460 - $1,154 higher median weekly earnings than people with a high school diploma and no college experience, depending on the degree.
California has the 2nd least equitable school districts in the U.S. overall, but some districts within the state are fairer than others. To find out where school funding is distributed most equitably, WalletHub scored 919 districts in California based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil. Read on for the district ranking and a complete description of our methodology.
Main Findings
Note: For visual purposes, we included only the top 7 school districts by enrollment from each category. Rank 1 on the “Expenditures Ranking” means highest expenditures and Rank 1 on “Income Ranking” means lowest income.
Most & Least Equitable School Districts in California
| Rank* | School District Score | Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools per Pupil | Income by School District | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Nietos School District | 0.03 | $14,525 | $63,516 |
| 2 | Gen Shafter Elementary School District | 0.13 | $17,245 | $49,167 |
| 3 | Browns Elementary School District | 0.17 | $10,664 | $83,942 |
| 4 | Pajaro Valley Unified School District | 0.19 | $13,924 | $66,867 |
| 5 | Bonita Unified School District | 0.27 | $10,602 | $84,202 |
| 6 | Roseville City Elementary School District | 0.28 | $11,104 | $81,921 |
| 7 | Tracy Joint Unified School District | 0.29 | $10,666 | $84,256 |
| 8 | Anderson Valley Unified School District | 0.31 | $17,941 | $45,164 |
| 9 | San Marcos Unified School District | 0.33 | $11,157 | $81,207 |
| 10 | Val Verde Unified School District | 0.38 | $14,085 | $65,607 |
| 11 | Imperial Unified School District | 0.51 | $10,778 | $83,813 |
| 12 | Twin Ridges Elementary School District | 0.54 | $18,845 | $40,192 |
| 13 | North Monterey County Unified School District | 0.55 | $12,794 | $72,355 |
| 14 | Fountain Valley School District | 0.56 | $9,634 | $89,934 |
| 15 | Sulphur Springs Union School District | 0.63 | $10,732 | $83,254 |
| 16 | Lakeside Union Elementary School District | 0.72 | $10,705 | $83,339 |
| 17 | Wright Elementary School District | 0.74 | $12,525 | $74,690 |
| 18 | Galt Joint Union Elementary School District | 0.81 | $12,624 | $73,076 |
| 19 | Oxnard Union High School District | 1 | $12,248 | $74,936 |
| 20 | Arcohe Union Elementary School District | 1.01 | $10,333 | $86,530 |
| 21 | Covina Valley Unified School District | 1.12 | $12,762 | $72,119 |
| 22 | Lowell Joint Elementary School District | 1.28 | $9,853 | $87,475 |
| 23 | West Covina Unified School District | 1.33 | $10,578 | $83,581 |
| 24 | La Habra City Elementary School District | 1.44 | $12,572 | $74,932 |
| 25 | North Cow Creek Elementary School District | 1.44 | $9,402 | $91,786 |
| 26 | Lone Pine Unified School District | 1.48 | $18,443 | $43,750 |
| 27 | Klamath Trinity Joint Unified School District | 1.48 | $19,369 | $38,828 |
| 28 | Downey Unified School District | 1.49 | $12,903 | $71,110 |
| 29 | Pomona Unified School District | 1.55 | $14,936 | $60,261 |
| 30 | West Contra Costa Unified School District | 1.56 | $12,364 | $73,931 |
*1=Most Equitable
Methodology
In order to rank the states with the most and least equitable school districts, WalletHub first scored 12,919 school districts throughout the U.S. based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil.
For expenditures, for each 1 percent above the state's average we removed 1 point from a base score of 50 points for each district. For household income, for each 1 percent above the state's average we added 1 point to a base score of 50 points for each district. The inverse was true for each 1 percent below the state's average.
The final score for each district was calculated by taking the absolute difference between the score for expenditures and the score for household income. We then ranked the districts based on the total score, with the lowest value, representing the most equitable, being ranked 1.
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from of the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics.