La Colina Junior High

· Santa Barbara County · Santa Barbara Unified
Public Santa Barbara County 🏛 Santa Barbara Unified → CDS 4276786…
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Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Peabody Charter → Goleta Valley Junior High → Santa Barbara Junior High → La Cumbre Junior High → Carpinteria High School → Compare all similar →

No UC admissions data on file for La Colina Junior High.

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
901 (2018)783 (2026)
-13.1%

If this trend holds (-1.7%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~769 -14 $0
3 yr (2029) ~743 -40 $0
5 yr (2031) ~717 -66 $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 Santa Barbara County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Stability rate
96.7%
819 of 847 students

28 of 847 students who enrolled at La Colina Junior High this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (3.3% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Santa Barbara County median
91.5% · school is in the 100th percentile of 31 HS
Statewide median
88.7% · in the 95th percentile of 2,648 HS

Stability by student group

White (414) 96.9%
Socio. disadvantaged (364) 96.2%
Hispanic / Latino (343) 95.9%
Students w/ disabilities (128) 98.4%
Two or more races (46) 97.8%
Asian (27) 100.0%

Nearest peer high schools

Peabody Charter 96.2% Goleta Valley Junior High 96.0% Santa Barbara Junior High 92.6% La Cumbre Junior High 94.4% Carpinteria High School 94.6%

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
14.0%
118 of 840 students

Absenteeism is up 7.4 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

Santa Barbara County median
18.9% · school is better than 84% of 31 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 — Santa Barbara 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
$237.1M
+7.1% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$17,979
13,188 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 18.6%
Local: 72.5%
Federal: 8.9%
Instruction share
54.4%
of current spending · $8,136/pupil
Long-term debt
$322.8M
+26.5% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Santa Barbara 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).

La Colina Junior High — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • At its recent rate (-1.7%/yr), enrollment projects to ~743 by 2029 — about 40 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

783 students (2026)
~743 projected (2029)
at -1.7%/yr

That's about 40 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
La Colina Junior High Public 783
Peer-group median 20.7% -14%
Peabody Charter Public 790
Goleta Valley Junior High Public 729
Santa Barbara Junior High Public 540
La Cumbre Junior High Public 410
Carpinteria High School Public 596 20.7% +1%
Santa Barbara Senior High Public 1769 -17%
San Marcos Senior High Public 1941 33.6% -12%
Santa Ynez Valley Union Hs Public 729 19.5% -15%
Adelante Charter Public 304
Santa Barbara Charter Public 257

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 →

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