Literacy First Charter

· San Diego County · San Diego County Office of Education
Public San Diego County 🏛 San Diego County Office of Education → CDS 3710371…
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Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Grossmont High School → Granite Hills High → Steele Canyon High School → El Cajon Valley High School → Valhalla High School → Compare all similar →

No UC admissions data on file for Literacy First 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 (9–12)
1,680 (2018)2,110 (2026)
+25.6%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
81 (2018)70 (2026)
-13.6%

If this trend holds (+2.9%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~2,171 +61 $0
3 yr (2029) ~2,298 +188 $0
5 yr (2031) ~2,433 +323 $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 Diego County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Action needed
Strong inside, weak at the gate.

Families who enroll at Literacy First Charter stay (96.9% stability — elite). But enrollment is dropping 1.7× the county rate (school -13.6% vs. county -7.8%). The audit question isn't why students leave — it's why fewer families are choosing to enroll in the first place.

-13.6%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
-7.8%  San Diego County baseline
-5.8pp  gap vs. county
96.9%  retention (county median 88.5%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
96.9%
373 of 385 students

12 of 385 students who enrolled at Literacy First Charter this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (3.1% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

San Diego County median
88.5% · school is in the 97th percentile of 121 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 97th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (1,168) 97.3%
Asian (886) 98.6%
White (671) 93.1%
English learners (523) 98.9%
Hispanic / Latino (437) 96.3%
Students w/ disabilities (285) 97.5%

Nearest peer high schools

Grossmont High School 87.5% Granite Hills High 90.3% Steele Canyon High School 96.0% El Cajon Valley High School 81.0% Valhalla High School 89.7%

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
18.4%
70 of 381 students

Absenteeism is up 8.5 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

San Diego County median
18.9% · school is better than 55% of 117 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 = 80
83.8%
incl. 40.0% exceeded
★ Top 10% CA
+23.1 pts above San Diego County median (60.6%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 79
45.6%
incl. 20.2% exceeded
+21.2 pts above San Diego County median (24.4%) · 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

White 46% +1.6
Hispanic / Latino 27% -4.5
Asian 18% +2.5
Two or more 6%
Black / African Am. 2%
Filipino 1%
American Indian 0%
Not reported 0%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 40% -3.4
Socioeconomically disadv. 15% +6.0

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 — San Diego County Office of Education (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
$575.6M
+15.2% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$501,861
1,147 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 53.0%
Local: 31.0%
Federal: 16.0%
Instruction share
22.2%
of current spending · $49,702/pupil
Total revenue by year ($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 Diego County Office of Education 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).

Literacy First Charter — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • Senior-class enrollment is down 14% (81→70 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of +0%.
  • Enrollment has been growing (+2.9%/yr); projects to ~2298 by 2029.

Enrollment projection

2110 students (2026)
~2298 projected (2029)
at +2.9%/yr

Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools

School Type Size UC Reach Enroll. trend
Literacy First Charter Public 2110 -14%
Peer-group median 12.8% +0%
Grossmont High School Public 2221 9.1% -9%
Granite Hills High Public 2412 8.8% +7%
Steele Canyon High School Public 2237 14.7% -2%
El Cajon Valley High School Public 1657 7.5% -9%
Valhalla High School Public 1692 17.5% -18%
El Capitan High School Public 1803 12.8% +22%
Henry High Public 2532 +20%
Helix High School Public 2571 26.9% +2%
Santana High School Public 1619 7.8% +26%
Bonita Vista High School Public 2038 29.4% -23%

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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