Paloma Creek High

· San Luis Obispo County · Atascadero Unified
Public San Luis Obispo County 🏛 Atascadero Unified → CDS 4068700…
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Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Pacific Beach High → Templeton Independent Study Hs → Peep - Prepare → Atascadero Choices In Education Academy (ace) → Shandon High School → Compare all similar →

No UC admissions data on file for Paloma Creek 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)
74 (2018)45 (2026)
-39.2%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
51 (2018)34 (2026)
-33.3%

If this trend holds (-6.0%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~42 -3 $0
3 yr (2029) ~37 -8 $0
5 yr (2031) ~33 -12 $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 -33.3% vs. county -1.4% AND stability (55.6%) below the county median. Recruitment and retention both under pressure — likely a foundational rather than tactical problem. Chronic absenteeism is also at 100.0% — engagement and demand are both signaling decline.

-33.3%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
-1.4%  San Luis Obispo County baseline
-31.9pp  gap vs. county
55.6%  retention (county median 84.9%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
55.6%
45 of 81 students

36 of 81 students who enrolled at Paloma Creek High this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (44.4% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

San Luis Obispo County median
84.9% · school is in the 31st percentile of 16 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 20th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (54) 63.0%
White (45) 60.0%
Hispanic / Latino (33) 51.5%
Students w/ disabilities (24) 54.2%

Nearest peer high schools

Pacific Beach High 28.7% Templeton Independent Study Hs 69.0% Peep - Prepare 82.6% Atascadero Choices In Education Academy (ace) 72.4% Shandon High School 86.4%

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
100.0%
77 of 77 students

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

San Luis Obispo County median
23.1% · school is worse than 100% 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 = 17
11.8%
incl. 5.9% exceeded
-44.2 pts vs. San Luis Obispo County median (56.0%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 17
0.0%
incl. 0.0% exceeded
-17.7 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

White 58% -8.9
Hispanic / Latino 40% +9.0
Two or more 2% +1.0

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 51% -14.4

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 — Atascadero 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
$79.2M
+30.9% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$18,015
4,397 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 37.0%
Local: 55.5%
Federal: 7.5%
Instruction share
56.8%
of current spending · $7,214/pupil
Long-term debt
$103.7M
+7.7% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Atascadero 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).

Paloma Creek High — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • Senior-class enrollment is down 33% (51→34 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of +58%.
  • At its recent rate (-6.0%/yr), enrollment projects to ~37 by 2029 — about 8 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

45 students (2026)
~37 projected (2029)
at -6.0%/yr

That's about 8 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
Paloma Creek High Public 45 -33%
Peer-group median +58%
Pacific Beach High Public 59 -15%
Templeton Independent Study Hs Public 99 +65%
Peep - Prepare Public 24 +89%
Atascadero Choices In Education Academy (ace) Public 166 +115%
Shandon High School Public 73 +10%
Independence High Public 125 +47%
Eagle Canyon High Public 13 +400%
Chesnut High (continuation) Public 43 +29%
San Joaquin High (continuation) Public 42 +100%
Pinnacles High School Public 50 +50%

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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