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. Low-income students have suffered 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 $524 - $1,112 higher median weekly earnings than people with a high school diploma and no college experience, depending on the degree.
California has the 3rd 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 922 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.
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 | Chino Valley Unified | 0.05 | $10,931 | $93,442 |
| 2 | Rio Elementary | 0.09 | $12,410 | $85,938 |
| 3 | Two Rock Union | 0.19 | $13,355 | $81,136 |
| 4 | Graves Elementary | 0.28 | $11,071 | $92,500 |
| 5 | San Lorenzo Unified | 0.31 | $13,748 | $79,082 |
| 6 | Norwalk-La Mirada Unified | 0.39 | $13,962 | $77,957 |
| 7 | Mulberry Elementary | 0.54 | $13,781 | $78,750 |
| 8 | Templeton Unified | 0.61 | $11,214 | $91,541 |
| 9 | Franklin-Mckinley Elementary | 0.63 | $14,337 | $75,898 |
| 10 | Pajaro Valley Unified | 0.74 | $15,343 | $71,880 |
| 11 | West Side Union Elementary | 0.83 | $11,556 | $89,667 |
| 12 | Twin Ridges Elementary | 0.85 | $19,969 | $48,819 |
| 13 | Fountain Valley Elementary | 0.95 | $10,331 | $97,113 |
| 14 | Vista Unified | 0.97 | $14,041 | $78,566 |
| 15 | San Diego Unified | 1.01 | $14,457 | $75,020 |
| 16 | Newcastle Elementary | 1.04 | $13,709 | $80,278 |
| 17 | Folsom-Cordova Unified | 1.13 | $11,775 | $88,346 |
| 18 | Round Valley Joint Elementary | 1.56 | $12,307 | $87,679 |
| 19 | John Swett Unified | 1.61 | $12,782 | $82,956 |
| 20 | Monrovia Unified | 1.61 | $13,518 | $79,271 |
| 21 | Tustin Unified | 1.66 | $11,031 | $91,676 |
| 22 | Duarte Unified | 1.68 | $14,365 | $74,984 |
| 23 | Julian Union Elementary | 1.71 | $18,521 | $56,700 |
| 24 | Huntington Beach City Elementary | 1.77 | $10,456 | $97,092 |
| 25 | Tres Pinos Union Elementary | 1.82 | $9,333 | $102,750 |
| 26 | East Whittier City Elementary | 1.86 | $12,032 | $86,520 |
| 27 | San Benito High | 2 | $12,664 | $86,216 |
| 28 | Torrance Unified | 2.03 | $11,194 | $93,597 |
| 29 | Galt Joint Union High | 2.08 | $14,169 | $75,670 |
| 30 | Azusa Unified | 2.08 | $15,088 | $71,068 |
Methodology
In order to rank the states with the most and least equitable school districts, WalletHub first scored 12,927 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 the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics.