Pacific Collegiate Charter

· Santa Cruz County · Santa Cruz County Office of Education
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Most similar nearby schools

San Lorenzo Valley High School → Scotts Valley High School → Santa Cruz High School → Harbor High School → Ceiba College Preparatory Academy → Compare all similar →

No UC admissions data on file for Pacific Collegiate 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)
537 (2018)551 (2026)
+2.6%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
78 (2018)67 (2026)
-14.1%

If this trend holds (+0.3%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~553 +2 $0
3 yr (2029) ~556 +5 $0
5 yr (2031) ~560 +9 $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 Cruz County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Critical
Sharp demand downturn hidden by elite retention.

Pacific Collegiate Charter's enrollment is shrinking 4.5× the county rate (school -14.1% vs. county +3.1%). Stability of 92.9% means every family you keep is one fewer; the leverage is at recruitment, not retention. This is the case the high stability number alone would hide.

-14.1%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
+3.1%  Santa Cruz County baseline
-17.2pp  gap vs. county
92.9%  retention (county median 90.8%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
92.9%
326 of 351 students

25 of 351 students who enrolled at Pacific Collegiate Charter this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (7.1% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Santa Cruz County median
90.8% · school is in the 80th percentile of 15 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 79th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

White (344) 93.3%
Hispanic / Latino (89) 95.5%
Two or more races (79) 94.9%
Socio. disadvantaged (62) 88.7%
Asian (39) 89.7%
Students w/ disabilities (27) 88.9%

Nearest peer high schools

San Lorenzo Valley High School 92.5% Scotts Valley High School 96.3% Santa Cruz High School 94.1% Harbor High School 90.8% Ceiba College Preparatory Academy 92.5%

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
7.7%
26 of 339 students

Low and stable absenteeism — students are engaged and showing up. The leading indicator is healthy.

Santa Cruz County median
18.8% · school is better 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 = 63
95.2%
incl. 57.1% exceeded
★ Top 10% CA
+29.1 pts above Santa Cruz County median (66.1%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 63
77.8%
incl. 49.2% exceeded
★ Top 10% CA
+43.6 pts above Santa Cruz County median (34.2%) · 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 59% -7.4
Two or more 17% +4.6
Hispanic / Latino 17% +2.1
Asian 6%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 4%

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 — Santa Cruz 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
$64.5M
+4.3% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$61,265
1,053 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 46.8%
Local: 35.2%
Federal: 18.1%
Instruction share
35.3%
of current spending · $16,367/pupil
Long-term debt
$7.8M
-12.1% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Santa Cruz 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).

Pacific Collegiate Charter — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • Senior-class enrollment is down 14% (78→67 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of -6%.
  • Enrollment has been growing (+0.3%/yr); projects to ~556 by 2029.

Enrollment projection

551 students (2026)
~556 projected (2029)
at +0.3%/yr

Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools

School Type Size UC Reach Enroll. trend
Pacific Collegiate Charter Public 551 -14%
Peer-group median 28.4% -6%
San Lorenzo Valley High School Public 537 22.1% -26%
Scotts Valley High School Public 592 44.7% -10%
Santa Cruz High School Public 1060 45.2% +2%
Harbor High School Public 994 28.3% +2%
Ceiba College Preparatory Academy Public 494 -26%
Soquel High School Public 1055 27.7% +7%
Pacific Grove High School Public 539 39.8% -5%
Downtown College Preparatory Public 520 +130%
Aptos High School Public 1258 28.4% -6%
Gunderson High Public 714 -24%

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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