Lopez Continuation High

· San Luis Obispo County · Lucia Mar Unified
Public San Luis Obispo County 🏛 Lucia Mar Unified → CDS 4068759…
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Most similar nearby schools

Pacific Beach High → Central Coast New Tech High → Maple High → Templeton Independent Study Hs → Maricopa High School → Compare all similar →

No UC admissions data on file for Lopez Continuation 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 (9–12)
118 (2018)86 (2026)
-27.1%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
73 (2018)60 (2026)
-17.8%

If this trend holds (-3.9%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~83 -3 $0
3 yr (2029) ~76 -10 $0
5 yr (2031) ~71 -15 $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 Luis Obispo County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Critical
Compounding decline on both vectors.

Enrollment -17.8% vs. county -1.4% AND stability (32.5%) below the county median. Recruitment and retention both under pressure — likely a foundational rather than tactical problem. Chronic absenteeism is also at 74.3% (up +7.5 pts from 2016-17) — engagement and demand are both signaling decline.

-17.8%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
-1.4%  San Luis Obispo County baseline
-16.4pp  gap vs. county
32.5%  retention (county median 84.9%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
32.5%
50 of 154 students

104 of 154 students who enrolled at Lopez Continuation High this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (67.5% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

San Luis Obispo County median
84.9% · school is in the 25th percentile of 16 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 8th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (114) 37.7%
Hispanic / Latino (96) 37.5%
White (48) 20.8%
Students w/ disabilities (44) 31.8%
English learners (24) 41.7%

Nearest peer high schools

Pacific Beach High 28.7% Central Coast New Tech High 89.9% Maple High 30.3% Templeton Independent Study Hs 69.0% Maricopa High School 66.7%

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
74.3%
110 of 148 students

Absenteeism is up 7.5 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

San Luis Obispo County median
23.1% · school is worse than 86% of 14 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 = 46
15.2%
incl. 2.2% exceeded
-40.8 pts vs. San Luis Obispo County median (56.0%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 44
4.5%
incl. 0.0% exceeded
-13.1 pts vs. San Luis Obispo County median (17.7%) · 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 57% -8.2
White 38% +8.0
Two or more 2%
Asian 1%
American Indian 1%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 70% -19.8
Socioeconomically disadv. 17% +3.5
Homeless 13% -14.2

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 — Lucia Mar 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
$145.6M
+9.2% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$14,674
9,921 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 27.4%
Local: 62.3%
Federal: 10.4%
Instruction share
60.6%
of current spending · $7,851/pupil
Long-term debt
$139.4M
+19.5% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Lucia Mar 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).

Lopez Continuation High — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • Senior-class enrollment is down 18% (73→60 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of +21%.
  • At its recent rate (-3.9%/yr), enrollment projects to ~76 by 2029 — about 10 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

86 students (2026)
~76 projected (2029)
at -3.9%/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
Lopez Continuation High Public 86 -18%
Peer-group median +21%
Pacific Beach High Public 59 -15%
Central Coast New Tech High Public 314 -4%
Maple High Public 129 +150%
Templeton Independent Study Hs Public 99 +65%
Maricopa High School Public 78 -43%
Portola-Butler Continuation High Public 75 +80%
Shandon High School Public 73 +10%
Buena Vista High (continuation) Public 73 +31%
Paloma Creek High Public 45 -33%
Atascadero Choices In Education Academy (ace) Public 166 +115%

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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