La Paloma High (continuation)

· Contra Costa County · Liberty Union High
Public Contra Costa County 🏛 Liberty Union High → CDS 0761721…
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Most similar nearby schools

Independence High → Bidwell Continuation High → Live Oak High (continuation) → Black Diamond High (continuation) → Village Oaks High → Compare all similar →

No UC admissions data on file for La Paloma High (continuation).

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 (9–12)
176 (2018)144 (2026)
-18.2%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
123 (2018)117 (2026)
-4.9%

If this trend holds (-2.5%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~140 -4 $0
3 yr (2029) ~134 -10 $0
5 yr (2031) ~127 -17 $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 Contra Costa County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Action needed
Mid-year exits eroding share alongside county-wide pressure.

Tracking Contra Costa County on enrollment (-4.9% vs. -3.2%), but stability (52.7%) is below the county median. Retention is the levered fix. Chronic absenteeism is also at 90.0% (up +0.8 pts from 2016-17) — engagement and demand are both signaling decline.

-4.9%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
-3.2%  Contra Costa County baseline
-1.7pp  gap vs. county
52.7%  retention (county median 89.5%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
52.7%
135 of 256 students

121 of 256 students who enrolled at La Paloma High (continuation) this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (47.3% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Contra Costa County median
89.5% · school is in the 18th percentile of 45 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 19th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (173) 54.3%
Hispanic / Latino (148) 56.1%
White (53) 41.5%
English learners (45) 60.0%
Students w/ disabilities (38) 52.6%
Black / African Am. (32) 53.1%

Nearest peer high schools

Independence High 53.7% Bidwell Continuation High 37.0% Live Oak High (continuation) 37.6% Black Diamond High (continuation) 37.2% Village Oaks High 70.0%

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
90.0%
215 of 239 students

Roughly one in three students is chronically absent. A floor this high signals systemic engagement problems beyond what any single intervention can fix.

Contra Costa County median
22.1% · school is worse than 98% of 45 HS
Statewide median
22.9%
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).

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 = 82
13.4%
incl. 1.2% exceeded
-38.4 pts vs. Contra Costa County median (51.8%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 83
2.4%
incl. 1.2% exceeded
-20.6 pts vs. Contra Costa County median (23.0%) · 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 49% -10.8
White 22% +3.9
Black / African Am. 18% +5.3
Two or more 7% +2.8
Filipino 1%
American Indian 1%
Asian 1%
Pacific Islander 1%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 60% +5.7
Socioeconomically disadv. 15% +5.2
English learners 9% -5.2

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 — Liberty 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.

Total revenue
$133.3M
+23.4% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$16,216
8,222 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 46.1%
Local: 48.3%
Federal: 5.6%
Instruction share
61.7%
of current spending · $8,015/pupil
Long-term debt
$148.0M
+45.6% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Liberty 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).

La Paloma High (continuation) — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • Senior-class enrollment is down 5% (123→117 from 2018 to 2026), outpacing the peer-group median of -19%.
  • At its recent rate (-2.5%/yr), enrollment projects to ~134 by 2029 — about 10 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

144 students (2026)
~134 projected (2029)
at -2.5%/yr

That's about 10 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 Paloma High (continuation) Public 144 -5%
Peer-group median -19%
Independence High Public 147 -56%
Bidwell Continuation High Public 147 -14%
Live Oak High (continuation) Public 155 +20%
Black Diamond High (continuation) Public 178 -34%
Village Oaks High Public 157 +7%
Prospects High (alternative) Public 271 -30%
Golden Gate Community School Public 74 -38%
Plaza Robles Continuation High Public 104 +6%
George And Evelyn Stein Continuation Public 95 -24%
Village High Public 104 +22%

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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