Wasco High

· Kern County · Wasco Union High
Public Kern County 🏛 Wasco Union High → CDS 1563859…
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Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Shafter High School → Robert F Kennedy High School → Wonderful College Prep Academy → Mcfarland High School Early College → Cesar E Chavez High School → Compare all similar →

No UC admissions data on file for Wasco 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)
1,757 (2018)1,656 (2026)
-5.7%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
389 (2018)400 (2026)
+2.8%

If this trend holds (-0.7%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~1,644 -12 $0
3 yr (2029) ~1,620 -36 $0
5 yr (2031) ~1,596 -60 $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 Kern County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Action needed
Demand declining faster than county; retention only average.

Enrollment is shrinking faster than Kern County (school +2.8% vs. county +12.7%) with stability (84.0%) near the county median. Two problems compounding — the recruitment side is the higher-leverage starting point.

+2.8%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
+12.7%  Kern County baseline
-9.9pp  gap vs. county
84.0%  retention (county median 84.4%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
84.0%
1,468 of 1,747 students

279 of 1,747 students who enrolled at Wasco High this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (16.0% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Kern County median
84.4% · school is in the 49th percentile of 47 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 38th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Hispanic / Latino (1,643) 84.4%
Socio. disadvantaged (1,559) 83.3%
English learners (332) 74.1%
Students w/ disabilities (173) 80.3%
White (55) 85.5%
Black / African Am. (34) 76.5%

Nearest peer high schools

Shafter High School 86.7% Robert F Kennedy High School 91.0% Wonderful College Prep Academy 94.6% Mcfarland High School Early College 91.7% Cesar E Chavez High School 90.7%

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
17.0%
291 of 1,714 students

Absenteeism is up 9.3 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

Kern County median
19.6% · school is better than 62% of 47 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 = 357
58.0%
incl. 25.5% exceeded
+6.3 pts above Kern County median (51.7%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 383
24.5%
incl. 6.0% exceeded
+11.6 pts above Kern County median (12.9%) · 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 94%
White 3%
Black / African Am. 2%
Asian 0%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 88%
English learners 15% -4.6
Socioeconomically disadv. 10%

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 — Wasco Union High (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
$34.3M
+17.3% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$17,854
1,921 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 46.1%
Local: 40.4%
Federal: 13.5%
Instruction share
50.3%
of current spending · $6,747/pupil
Long-term debt
$28.7M
-7.9% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Wasco Union High 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).

Wasco High — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • Senior-class enrollment is up 3% (389→400 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of +25%.
  • At its recent rate (-0.7%/yr), enrollment projects to ~1620 by 2029 — about 36 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

1656 students (2026)
~1620 projected (2029)
at -0.7%/yr

That's about 36 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
Wasco High Public 1656 +3%
Peer-group median 10.6% +25%
Shafter High School Public 1670 6.7% +24%
Robert F Kennedy High School Public 1406 12.5% +30%
Wonderful College Prep Academy Public 1861 47.9% +40%
Mcfarland High School Early College Public 1017 +29%
Cesar E Chavez High School Public 1284 12.3% -14%
Delano High School Public 1183 11.1% -12%
Frontier High School Public 2098 8.5% -12%
Centennial High School Public 2311 9.4% +4%
North High School Public 2112 5.4% +36%
Liberty High School Public 2413 10.6% +26%

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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