Western Center Academy

Hemet · Riverside County · Hemet Unified
Public Riverside County 🏛 Hemet Unified → ~77 seniors CDS 3367082…
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Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

San Jacinto Leadership Academy - Magnet → Nuview Bridge Early College Hs → Temecula Preparatory School → Jcs - Pine Hills → Citrus Springs Charter → Compare all similar →

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment (9–12)
671 (2018)770 (2026)
+14.8%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
59 (2018)83 (2026)
+40.7%

If this trend holds (+1.7%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~783 +13 $0
3 yr (2029) ~811 +41 $0
5 yr (2031) ~839 +69 $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 Riverside County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Healthy
Best in class — winning on demand and retention.

Western Center Academy outperformed Riverside County on enrollment (school +40.7% vs. county -2.7%) AND maintains 98.1% stability. Replicable model — worth documenting what's working.

+40.7%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
-2.7%  Riverside County baseline
+43.4pp  gap vs. county
98.1%  retention (county median 85.4%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
98.1%
356 of 363 students

7 of 363 students who enrolled at Western Center Academy this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (1.9% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Riverside County median
85.4% · school is in the 100th percentile of 94 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 99th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (455) 94.5%
Hispanic / Latino (364) 96.4%
White (247) 94.7%
Black / African Am. (47) 97.9%
Two or more races (42) 95.2%
Asian (40) 100.0%

Nearest peer high schools

San Jacinto Leadership Academy - Magnet 91.5% Nuview Bridge Early College Hs 91.7% Temecula Preparatory School 94.8% Jcs - Pine Hills 78.6% Citrus Springs Charter 77.8%

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
5.0%
18 of 362 students

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

Riverside County median
28.9% · school is better than 98% of 94 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 = 84
95.2%
incl. 63.1% exceeded
★ Top 10% CA
+45.5 pts above Riverside County median (49.7%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 84
66.7%
incl. 29.8% exceeded
★ Top 10% CA
+51.0 pts above Riverside County median (15.7%) · 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 44% +1.8
White 33% -2.7
Asian 7%
Black / African Am. 6% +2.0
Two or more 6%
Filipino 4%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 48% -11.2

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 — Hemet 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
$405.4M
+18.5% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$18,790
21,573 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 60.7%
Local: 25.6%
Federal: 13.7%
Instruction share
55.2%
of current spending · $8,385/pupil
Long-term debt
$239.2M
+12.4% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Hemet 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).

University of California outcomes · Class of 2025
UC Reach
26%
20 admits / 77 seniors
+16.0 pp above peer median (10.0%) · Ranked #2 of 8 similar schools
5-year trend
2021 · 49.3% 2025 · 26.0%
Where this sits on the California curve
CA median
18.5%
Peer median
10.0%
Top 10%
53.3%
This school
26.0%
0%50%100%
CA median 18.5% Top 10% ≥ 53.3% This school 26.0%

Higher than 66% of California high schools (1105 ranked, ≥50 seniors)

📊 What this number means

Western Center Academy's UC Reach of 26.0% is above the California median (18.5%). The top 10% of CA schools achieve 53.3% or higher.

Against similar schools, Western Center Academy stands out clearly — the peer-group median is 10.0%.

For context, the elite tier (top 1%) clears 102.7% — a gap of 77 pp from where this school sits.

Overall, Western Center Academy's UC Reach is higher than 66% of California high schools (1105 ranked).

UC Application Reach
166.2%
128 applications
Most seniors are applying to at least one of the six most selective UCs (applications counted at each campus).
In context: CA median 78.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 245.8% · Riverside Co. Top 10% ≥ 124.1% · higher than 79% of CA HS.
UC Admit Rate
15.6%
20 / 128 applications
In context: CA median 26.0% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 40.5% · higher than 2% of CA HS.
UC Yield Rate
15.0%
3 enrolled of 20 admitted
Yield vs. Enrollment Reach: Yield answers "of UC admits, what % chose UC?" — denominator is just the admits. A small admitted cohort can post a low yield even when the school sends a healthy share of its class to UC.
UC Enrollment Reach
3.9%
3 enrollees / 77 seniors
Enrollment Reach vs. Yield: Reach answers "of the whole senior class, what % ended up at UC?" — denominator is everyone. High Yield with low Enrollment Reach is common at elite privates: most admits matriculate, but the school sends most of its class to non-UC selective colleges.
Student-Counselor Ratio
770:1
1.0 FTE counselors · 770 students
In context: CA median 338:1 · 432 more students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.
A-G Completion
97%
75 of 77 graduates · 2024-25 cohort
In context: CA median 55.9% · +41.5 pp above.
Selective UC Reach (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD)
15.6
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 15.7 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 42.4 · higher than 50% of CA HS.
Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA)
N/A
Senior Class Size
77
CDE grade 12 (exact)
Total School Enrollment
762
All grades · CDE Census Day

Western Center Academy — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · Hemet · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • On UC Reach, Western Center Academy sits near the top of its similar-school group (ranked #2 of 8): 26% vs. a peer median of 10%.
  • Its UC Reach has slipped 4 points since 2018 — worth watching.
  • Across the top-6 UC campuses, Western Center Academy is admitting at roughly +12 percentage points above what its average applicant GPA (3.876) alone would predict (38% actual vs. 26% expected). That's a meaningful signal — it can reflect UC's track record with this school's graduates, students presenting strongly in UC's holistic review (essays, EC's, context), or institutional familiarity helping at the margin. The data can't distinguish which, but the pattern itself is real and worth understanding.
  • Senior-class enrollment is up 41% (59→83 from 2018 to 2026), outpacing the peer-group median of +5%.
  • Enrollment has been growing (+1.7%/yr); projects to ~811 by 2029.

Enrollment projection

770 students (2026)
~811 projected (2029)
at +1.7%/yr

Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools

School Type Size UC Reach Enroll. trend
Western Center Academy Public 770 26.0% +41%
Peer-group median 10.0% +5%
San Jacinto Leadership Academy - Magnet Public 760 -1%
Nuview Bridge Early College Hs Public 665 22.9% +10%
Temecula Preparatory School Public 1087 43.1% +16%
Jcs - Pine Hills Public 747 +27%
Citrus Springs Charter Public 910 -20%
West Valley High School Public 1854 5.8% +5%
California Military Institute Public 1029 9.6% -2%
Tahquitz High School Public 1692 10.0% +4%
San Jacinto Valley Academy Public 1718 13.5% +119%
Banning High School Public 1152 6.3% +4%

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 →

Avg. Applicant GPA · top-6 UCs
3.90
Avg. Admitted GPA · top-6 UCs
4.17

Admit rate vs. CA peer average, by campus

How does this school's admit rate at each UC compare to other CA schools whose applicant pool averages the same GPA?

Campus Applicant GPA (avg) Actual admit rate CA peer avg Δ Verdict
UC Santa Barbara 3.89 50.0% 28.3% +21.7pp Over
UC Irvine 3.86 25.9% 21.5% +4.4pp On target
UC Davis 3.90 53.3% 32.3% +21.1pp Over
"Applicant GPA" is the average GPA of this school's UC applicant pool — not an individual student GPA. "CA peer avg" is the application-weighted statewide admit rate at this school-pool GPA, fit separately per campus. At any given pool GPA, real admit rates span widely (UCSD ranges 8% → 65% across CA schools) because UCs use comprehensive review — context-of-opportunity, geography, demographics, and applicant essays all weigh in beyond GPA. A large negative residual flags this school is admitted at a meaningfully lower rate than other CA schools at the same pool GPA — not that students here were "rejected at expected rate X." "Over" / "Under" use a ±5-point band. Campuses with fewer than 5 applicants are omitted.

Where Western Center Academy sits vs. all California schools

Overall, this school admits its UC applicants 12.5 points above what their GPAs predict (38.5% actual vs. 25.9% expected).

UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2025

UC Admit Rate %
UC Reach % (where available)
UC Admits (count, right axis)

Class size from CDE grade 12 enrollment. Campus-level data — applicant/admit totals may count a student at multiple campuses more than once.

Campus Breakdown — 2025

Campus Applicants Admits Enrollees Admit Rate UC Reach Yield Avg GPA (App) Avg GPA (Adm)
UC Berkeley → Elite 22 3.98
UCLA → Elite 23 3.91
UC San Diego → Selective 31 3.89
UC Santa Barbara → Selective 10 5 50.0% 6.5% 3.89 4.18
UC Irvine → Selective 27 7 3 25.9% 9.1% 42.9% 3.86 4.17
UC Davis → 15 8 53.3% 10.4% 3.90 4.16
⚠ Campus-level totals may count one student admitted to multiple UC campuses more than once. Admit Volume metrics are not the same as UC Reach, which requires unique-student counts. See methodology →

What This Means

A large share of the senior class applies to UC, indicating strong college-going culture and UC pipeline development.
A large share of the class applies to UC, so the admit rate runs lower than the application volume alone might suggest — expected when many students apply broadly, including to reach campuses. UC Reach (which credits every admit relative to the class) is the truer read of how the class fares: a strong Reach alongside a moderate admit rate is healthy, not a contradiction.
Students are earning UC admission but enrolling elsewhere at a notable rate. This may reflect competition from private colleges, out-of-state flagships, cost considerations, or UC campus fit. Student outcome surveys can clarify.
The school generates broad UC access, but fewer students are reaching the most selective UC campuses (UCLA, Berkeley, UCSD, UCSB, UCI). Targeted academic enrichment and campus-fit advising may help.
Note: admit counts used here are campus-level totals. A student admitted to both UCLA and UCSD is counted twice. When UCOP unique-student data becomes available it will be loaded automatically and the labels will update.
Compare with other schools → See Riverside County rankings →

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