Creative Arts Charter

· San Francisco County · San Francisco Unified
Public San Francisco County 🏛 San Francisco Unified → CDS 3868478…
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Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Gateway High School → Marshall (thurgood) High → John O'connell High School → Raoul Wallenberg Traditional → City Arts & Leadership Academy → Compare all similar →

No UC admissions data on file for Creative Arts Charter.

This school doesn't appear in UCOP's source-school records (it may send few or no applicants to UC). Its enrollment trend and similar-school comparison are still below.

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment
436 (2018)420 (2026)
-3.7%

If this trend holds (-0.5%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~418 -2 $0
3 yr (2029) ~414 -6 $0
5 yr (2031) ~410 -10 $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 San Francisco County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Stability rate
92.9%
421 of 453 students

32 of 453 students who enrolled at Creative Arts Charter this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (7.1% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

San Francisco County median
86.5% · school is in the 80th percentile of 25 HS
Statewide median
88.7% · in the 75th percentile of 2,648 HS

Stability by student group

White (180) 92.2%
Socio. disadvantaged (145) 91.7%
Hispanic / Latino (127) 92.9%
Two or more races (73) 94.5%
Students w/ disabilities (69) 94.2%
Black / African Am. (51) 98.0%

Nearest peer high schools

Gateway High School 94.6% Marshall (thurgood) High 74.8% City Arts & Leadership Academy 92.2%

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: total enrollment.

Chronic absent
24.3%
109 of 448 students

Absenteeism is up 9.5 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

San Francisco County median
38.0% · school is better than 79% of 24 HS
Statewide median
20.9%
Chronic absenteeism by year (raw %)

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).

District financial profile — San Francisco 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
$1228.3M
+17.3% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$23,716
51,790 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 36.3%
Local: 56.0%
Federal: 7.8%
Instruction share
53.2%
of current spending · $9,747/pupil
Long-term debt
$969.8M
+0.1% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 San Francisco 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).

Creative Arts Charter — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • At its recent rate (-0.5%/yr), enrollment projects to ~414 by 2029 — about 6 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

420 students (2026)
~414 projected (2029)
at -0.5%/yr

That's about 6 fewer students. At per-student funding of $ per student, that's roughly $0 in annual state funding at risk.

Default = California's LCFF base grant for grades 9–12 ($12,423 per ADA) — adjust to your district's actual per-pupil figure. Projection extrapolates the recent annual rate — not a forecast of intent.

Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools

School Type Size UC Reach Enroll. trend
Creative Arts Charter Public 420
Peer-group median 24.2% -1%
Gateway High School Public 475 39.2% -1%
Marshall (thurgood) High Public 420 +15%
John O'connell High School Public 475 11.3% -12%
Raoul Wallenberg Traditional Public 504 32.4% -21%
City Arts & Leadership Academy Public 393 +33%
Mission Preparatory Public 494
Nea Community Learning Center Public 442 16.0% +7%
Thomas Edison Charter Academy Public 614
Kipp San Francisco Bay Academy Public 264
S.f. International High Public 271 -7%

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 →

Is your school winning the families it should?

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