Colusa High School

Colusa · Colusa County · Colusa Unified
Public Colusa County 🏛 Colusa Unified → ~109 seniors CDS 0661598…
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Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Pierce High School → Williams Junior/Senior High → Willows High School → Sutter High School → Live Oak High School → Compare all similar →

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment (9–12)
400 (2018)413 (2026)
+3.2%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
83 (2018)109 (2026)
+31.3%

If this trend holds (+0.4%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~415 +2 $0
3 yr (2029) ~418 +5 $0
5 yr (2031) ~421 +8 $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 Colusa County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Mixed signal
Demand outpacing county is masking internal churn.

Enrollment growth is beating Colusa County (+31.3% vs. +24.8%), but 57 of 458 students didn't maintain continuous enrollment. Why are families leaving once enrolled?

+31.3%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
+24.8%  Colusa County baseline
+6.5pp  gap vs. county
87.6%  retention (county median 90.8%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate
87.6%
401 of 458 students

57 of 458 students who enrolled at Colusa High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (12.4% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Colusa County median
90.8% · school is in the 50th percentile of 4 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 53rd percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Hispanic / Latino (342) 88.3%
Socio. disadvantaged (340) 86.2%
White (83) 86.7%
English learners (47) 76.6%
Students w/ disabilities (45) 88.9%

Nearest peer high schools

Pierce High School 93.9% Williams Junior/Senior High 86.2% Willows High School 90.1% Sutter High School 95.8% Live Oak High School 88.3%

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.

Chronic absent
14.1%
63 of 448 students

Absenteeism is up 5.8 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

Colusa County median
12.3% · school is worse than 50% of 4 HS
Statewide median
22.9%

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.

ELA — met or exceeded
n = 107
55.1%
incl. 21.5% exceeded
+9.0 pts above Colusa County median (46.1%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 107
14.0%
incl. 5.6% exceeded
-1.6 pts vs. Colusa County median (15.6%) · CA median 21.1% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 53.6%

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

Hispanic / Latino 76% +3.3
White 16% -3.2
American Indian 3%
Two or more 2%
Asian 1%
Black / African Am. 1%
Pacific Islander 0%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 76% +3.3
Socioeconomically disadv. 8% -1.8
English learners 3% -9.5

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 — Colusa Unified (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.

Total revenue
$21.8M
+21.8% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$14,226
1,529 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 66.1%
Local: 22.6%
Federal: 11.3%
Instruction share
60.6%
of current spending · $7,548/pupil
Long-term debt
$5.2M
-6.6% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($M)
Total expenditure by year ($M)

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 Colusa Unified 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).

University of California outcomes · Class of 2025
UC Reach
3%
3 admits / 109 seniors
-2.7 pp vs. peer median (5.5%) · Ranked #5 of 6 similar schools
5-year trend
2019 · 4.9% 2025 · 2.8%
Where this sits on the California curve
CA median
18.5%
Peer median
5.5%
Top 10%
53.3%
This school
2.8%
0%50%100%
CA median 18.5% Top 10% ≥ 53.3% This school 2.8%

Higher than 0% of California high schools (1105 ranked, ≥50 seniors)

📊 What this number means

Colusa High School's UC Reach of 2.8% is below the California median (18.5%). The top 10% of CA schools achieve 53.3% or higher.

Overall, Colusa High School's UC Reach is higher than 0% of California high schools (1105 ranked).

UC Application Reach
38.5%
42 applications
In context: CA median 78.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 245.8% · higher than 17% of CA HS.
UC Admit Rate
7.1%
3 / 42 applications
In context: CA median 26.0% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 40.5% · higher than 0% of CA HS.
UC Yield Rate
N/A
None enrolled of 3 admitted
Yield vs. Enrollment Reach: Yield answers "of UC admits, what % chose UC?" — denominator is just the admits. A small admitted cohort can post a low yield even when the school sends a healthy share of its class to UC.
UC Enrollment Reach
N/A
None enrollees / 109 seniors
Enrollment Reach vs. Yield: Reach answers "of the whole senior class, what % ended up at UC?" — denominator is everyone. High Yield with low Enrollment Reach is common at elite privates: most admits matriculate, but the school sends most of its class to non-UC selective colleges.
Student-Counselor Ratio
413:1
1.0 FTE counselors · 413 students
In context: CA median 338:1 · 75 more students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.
A-G Completion
29%
30 of 102 graduates · 2024-25 cohort
In context: CA median 55.9% · -26.5 pp vs. median.
Selective UC Reach (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD)
N/A
Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA)
N/A
Senior Class Size
109
CDE grade 12 (exact)
Total School Enrollment
431
All grades · CDE Census Day
Economic Connectedness
0.93
40th percentile in CA · cross‑class friendships

Colusa High School — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · Colusa · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • On UC Reach, Colusa High School sits near the bottom of its similar-school group (ranked #5 of 6): 3% vs. a peer median of 6%.
  • Its UC Reach has slipped 2 points since 2018 — worth watching.
  • Senior-class enrollment is up 31% (83→109 from 2018 to 2026), outpacing the peer-group median of +20%.
  • Enrollment has been growing (+0.4%/yr); projects to ~418 by 2029.

Enrollment projection

413 students (2026)
~418 projected (2029)
at +0.4%/yr

Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools

School Type Size UC Reach Enroll. trend
Colusa High School Public 413 2.8% +31%
Peer-group median 5.5% +20%
Pierce High School Public 440 8.9% +21%
Williams Junior/Senior High Public 591 +12%
Willows High School Public 419 5.5% +0%
Sutter High School Public 733 4.4% -13%
Live Oak High School Public 598 32.9% +20%
Gridley High School Public 685 2.8% +36%
Sutter Peak Charter Academy Public 804 +115%
Yuba City Charter Public 246 -44%
Marysville Charter Academy For The Arts Public 378 +26%
Maxwell Sr High Public 125 +71%

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 →

Avg. Applicant GPA · top-6 UCs
3.63

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 Davis 3.61 42.9% 32.5% +10.3pp Over
"Applicant GPA" is the average GPA of this school's UC applicant pool — not an individual student GPA. "CA peer avg" is the application-weighted statewide admit rate at this school-pool GPA, fit separately per campus. At any given pool GPA, real admit rates span widely (UCSD ranges 8% → 65% across CA schools) because UCs use comprehensive review — context-of-opportunity, geography, demographics, and applicant essays all weigh in beyond GPA. A large negative residual flags this school is admitted at a meaningfully lower rate than other CA schools at the same pool GPA — not that students here were "rejected at expected rate X." "Over" / "Under" use a ±5-point band. Campuses with fewer than 5 applicants are omitted.

UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2025

UC Admit Rate %
UC Reach % (where available)
UC Admits (count, right axis)

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 10 3.62
UCLA → Elite 8 3.72
UC San Diego → Selective 6 3.66
UC Santa Barbara → Selective 6 3.64
UC Irvine → Selective 5 3.48
UC Davis → 7 3 42.9% 2.8% 3.61
⚠ Campus-level totals may count one student admitted to multiple UC campuses more than once. Admit Volume metrics are not the same as UC Reach, which requires unique-student counts. See methodology →

What This Means

A large share of the class applies to UC, so the admit rate runs lower than the application volume alone might suggest — expected when many students apply broadly, including to reach campuses. UC Reach (which credits every admit relative to the class) is the truer read of how the class fares: a strong Reach alongside a moderate admit rate is healthy, not a contradiction.
Fewer than 15% of seniors are earning UC admission. This may reflect a high non-UC college-going rate, significant A-G completion gaps, or an early-stage UC pipeline. A deeper review of A-G readiness and counseling capacity is warranted.
Note: admit counts used here are campus-level totals. A student admitted to both UCLA and UCSD is counted twice. When UCOP unique-student data becomes available it will be loaded automatically and the labels will update.
Compare with other schools → See Colusa County rankings →

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