Central Union High School
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Most similar nearby schools
Southwest High School → Imperial High School → Brawley Union High School → Calexico High School → Palm Desert High School → Compare all similar →Enrollment trend & projection
If this trend holds (+1.0%/yr, Total enrollment)
At per-pupil funding of $ / student:
| Horizon | Projected Total enrollment | Change | Funding impact / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 yr (2027) | ~2,043 | +20 | $0 |
| 3 yr (2029) | ~2,084 | +61 | $0 |
| 5 yr (2031) | ~2,126 | +103 | $0 |
Straight-line extrapolation of the recent annual rate — a what-if, not a forecast of intent. Default = California's LCFF base grant for grades 9–12 ($12,423/ADA). Edit the figure to match your school.
Enrollment stability & demand — 2024-25
Two complementary signals: retention (do students stay once enrolled?) and demand (are families choosing the school?). Read against the Imperial County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.
Enrollment and retention both close to Imperial County baseline. The demographic tide is the main mover; no internal break in the system, but no outperformance either.
214 of 2,101 students who enrolled at Central Union High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (10.2% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.
Stability by student group
Nearest peer high schools
Source: California Department of Education, Stability Rate 2024-25. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥100 cumulative enrollees so by-design-high-churn continuation schools don't dominate the bottom of the distribution. Cumulative enrollment counts every student on the rolls during the year, so it can exceed peak-day enrollment.
Chronic absenteeism — 2024-25
Share of students missing 10% or more of expected attendance — the leading indicator that often precedes the demand decline shown above. Families disengaging tend to raise absenteeism first, then formally leave. Basis: grades 9–12.
Low and stable absenteeism — students are engaged and showing up. The leading indicator is healthy.
Source: California Department of Education, Chronic Absenteeism 2024-25. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥100 eligible students. CDE didn't publish a usable 2019-20 file (COVID).
SBAC academic outcomes — grade 11, 2025
Share of grade-11 students meeting or exceeding the California standard on Smarter Balanced ELA and Math. This is the academic-readiness signal that pairs with UC Reach (post-grad outcomes), stability (retention), and absenteeism (engagement). Note: statewide median Math is only ~20% — a school at 20% isn't an outlier; one at 45%+ genuinely is.
Source: California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) Smarter Balanced research files. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥30 tested students.
Student composition — 2025-26
HS grades 9–12 racial/ethnic composition and program subgroups, from CDE Census Day Enrollment. Two-year shift shown when ≥1 pt — surfaces how the community served has changed since 2023-24.
Race / ethnicity
Program subgroups
Source: California Department of Education, Census Day Enrollment 2025-26 (HS grades 9–12). Δ shown when shift is ≥1 pt since 2023-24. Categories below 0.5% omitted.
District financial profile — Central Union High (FY2020)
From 4 years of NCES F-33 filings (the federally-mandated district finance survey). Public schools don't have their own books — the district does. These figures show the financial scale, revenue dependence, instruction-vs-overhead mix, and long-term debt that shape what a school can sustain.
Local: 13.6%
Federal: 16.6%
Source: NCES F-33 Annual Survey of School System Finances (Urban Institute Education Data API). Latest year currently published: FY2020. F-33 is a district-level federal filing — it reflects the Central Union High as a whole, not this individual school's books. Revenue mix shows where the district's dollars come from (state aid dominates in CA via LCFF). Instruction share is current expenditure on instruction ÷ total current expenditure (national benchmark ~60%). Long-term debt is end-of-year outstanding (mostly facilities bonds).
-3.6 pp vs. peer median (13.2%) · Ranked #9 of 10 similar schools
18.5%
13.2%
53.3%
9.6%
Higher than 16% of California high schools (1105 ranked, ≥50 seniors)
Central Union High School's UC Reach of 9.6% is below the California median (18.5%). The top 10% of CA schools achieve 53.3% or higher.
Overall, Central Union High School's UC Reach is higher than 16% of California high schools (1105 ranked).
Central Union High School — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot
Public · El Centro · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools
- ▸On UC Reach, Central Union High School sits near the bottom of its similar-school group (ranked #9 of 10): 10% vs. a peer median of 13%.
- ▸Its UC Reach has held roughly steady since 2018.
- ▸Senior-class enrollment is up 8% (413→444 from 2018 to 2026), outpacing the peer-group median of -1%.
- ▸Enrollment has been growing (+1.0%/yr); projects to ~2084 by 2029.
Enrollment projection
Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools
| School | Type | Size | UC Reach | Enroll. trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Union High School | Public | 2023 | 9.6% | +8% |
| Peer-group median | 13.2% | -1% | ||
| Southwest High School | Public | 1886 | 13.2% | -1% |
| Imperial High School | Public | 1449 | 10.2% | +40% |
| Brawley Union High School | Public | 1868 | 11.7% | +18% |
| Calexico High School | Public | 2703 | 11.9% | -6% |
| Palm Desert High School | Public | 2107 | 29.1% | +7% |
| Literacy First Charter | Public | 2110 | — | -14% |
| Indio High School | Public | 1925 | 17.2% | +18% |
| Olympian High School | Public | 2216 | 30.3% | -18% |
| Grossmont High School | Public | 2221 | 9.1% | -9% |
| Steele Canyon High School | Public | 2237 | 14.7% | -2% |
UC Reach = top-6 UC admits ÷ senior class (can exceed 100% when students are admitted to multiple campuses). Enrollment trend = first-to-latest grade-12 change on file. Similar schools matched on proximity, size, type. Methodology →
Admit rate vs. CA peer average, by campus ⓘ
How does this school's admit rate at each UC compare to other CA schools whose applicant pool averages the same GPA?
| Campus | Applicant GPA (avg) | Actual admit rate | CA peer avg | Δ | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley | 3.75 | 16.7% | 12.4% | +4.3pp | On target |
| UC San Diego | 3.68 | 28.8% | 28.9% | -0.0pp | On target |
| UC Santa Barbara | 3.69 | 65.0% | 27.0% | +38.0pp | Over |
| UC Irvine | 3.72 | 17.2% | 18.1% | -0.8pp | On target |
| UC Davis | 3.58 | 23.1% | 32.7% | -9.7pp | Under |
Where Central Union High School sits vs. all California schools ⓘ
Overall, this school admits its UC applicants in line with what their GPAs predict (28.0% actual vs. 24.1% expected).
UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2025
Class size from CDE grade 12 enrollment. Campus-level data — applicant/admit totals may count a student at multiple campuses more than once.
Campus Breakdown — 2025
| Campus | Applicants | Admits | Enrollees | Admit Rate | UC Reach | Yield | Avg GPA (App) | Avg GPA (Adm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley → Elite | 30 | 5 | — | 16.7% | 1.1% | — | 3.75 | 4.17 |
| UCLA → Elite | 35 | — | — | — | — | — | 3.79 | — |
| UC San Diego → Selective | 52 | 15 | 9 | 28.8% | 3.3% | 60.0% | 3.68 | 4.13 |
| UC Santa Barbara → Selective | 20 | 13 | — | 65.0% | 2.8% | — | 3.69 | 3.92 |
| UC Irvine → Selective | 29 | 5 | — | 17.2% | 1.1% | — | 3.72 | 4.05 |
| UC Davis → | 26 | 6 | — | 23.1% | 1.3% | — | 3.58 | 4.09 |