Santa Barbara Community Academy

· Santa Barbara County · Santa Barbara Unified
Public Santa Barbara County 🏛 Santa Barbara Unified → CDS 4276786…
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Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Santa Barbara Charter → Adelante Charter → La Cumbre Junior High → Santa Barbara Junior High → Santa Ynez Valley Charter → Compare all similar →

No UC admissions data on file for Santa Barbara Community Academy.

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
270 (2018)208 (2026)
-23.0%

If this trend holds (-3.2%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~201 -7 $0
3 yr (2029) ~189 -19 $0
5 yr (2031) ~177 -31 $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 Barbara County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Stability rate
90.5%
209 of 231 students

22 of 231 students who enrolled at Santa Barbara Community Academy this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (9.5% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Santa Barbara County median
91.5% · school is in the 48th percentile of 31 HS
Statewide median
88.7% · in the 61st percentile of 2,648 HS

Stability by student group

Hispanic / Latino (220) 90.0%
Socio. disadvantaged (203) 93.1%
English learners (108) 90.7%
Students w/ disabilities (38) 89.5%

Nearest peer high schools

Santa Barbara Charter 93.2% Adelante Charter 96.2% La Cumbre Junior High 94.4% Santa Barbara Junior High 92.6% Santa Ynez Valley Charter 95.3%

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: total enrollment.

Chronic absent
17.6%
40 of 227 students

Absenteeism is up 8.3 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

Santa Barbara County median
18.9% · school is better than 55% of 31 HS
Statewide median
20.9%
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).

District financial profile — Santa Barbara 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
$237.1M
+7.1% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$17,979
13,188 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 18.6%
Local: 72.5%
Federal: 8.9%
Instruction share
54.4%
of current spending · $8,136/pupil
Long-term debt
$322.8M
+26.5% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Santa Barbara 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).

Santa Barbara Community Academy — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • At its recent rate (-3.2%/yr), enrollment projects to ~189 by 2029 — about 19 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

208 students (2026)
~189 projected (2029)
at -3.2%/yr

That's about 19 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
Santa Barbara Community Academy Public 208
Peer-group median 11.4% +1%
Santa Barbara Charter Public 257
Adelante Charter Public 304
La Cumbre Junior High Public 410
Santa Barbara Junior High Public 540
Santa Ynez Valley Charter Public 212
La Cuesta Continuation High Public 69 -17%
Peabody Charter Public 790
La Colina Junior High Public 783
Pacific High Public 192 +1%
El Camino High Public 223 11.4% +10%

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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