Total enrollment
40,251
-3,364 (-8%) vs SY 2020-21
60 schools in Capistrano Unified
California · 40,251 students · 12 cities
Capistrano Unified's public-school footprint covers 60 schools with combined enrollment of about 40,251 students, averaging 671 per school.
4-year change in Capistrano Unified
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25School count
58
-1 (-2%) vs SY 2020-21
Source: NCES Common Core of Data, enrollment-weighted demographic averages
How Capistrano Unified ranks
Among districts| Measure | This district | In California | In the US |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 66.1% | #63 of 534 | N/A |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 40,251 | #11 of 587 | #139 of 9,234 |
| Number of schools ranked most first | 58 | #12 of 587 | N/A |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 22.9:1 | #452 of 587 | #8,832 of 9,044 |
| Free or reduced-price lunch share ranked highest first | 35.1% | #466 of 587 | #6,103 of 8,164 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 64.2% | #135 of 530 | #1,098 of 6,853 |
Districts need at least 2 schools and 500 students to be ranked. Test proficiency is ranked within the state only, since each state gives a different test. Each rank links to the full list.
Inside Capistrano Unified
State test results across the district's 54 scored schools run from Chaparral Elementary at 84.5% proficient to Kinoshita Elementary at 24.1%, a gap of 60.4 points. That is the 34th widest gap among 458 California districts with four or more scored schools.
Since 2017-18, the 56 district schools that reported both years went from 47,764 to 38,906 students (down 19%) and from 1,820 to 1,704 full-time teachers (down 6%), as of 2024-25.
Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across each school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25; schools with fewer than 100 students and schools serving specialized populations are left out. Staffing figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data and count only schools that reported students and teachers in both years.
About Capistrano Unified
Capistrano Unified runs 60 public schools across California, collectively teacheing roughly 40,251 students.
In terms of grade levels, Capistrano Unified covers 37 elementary, 13 middle, 9 high schools, and 1 combined or other.
Average enrollment per school in Capistrano Unified is about 671, higher than the California average of roughly 578.
Looking at the last 4 years. Across the same 4-year window, public-school enrollment decreased 8%: 43,615 students in SY 2020-21 versus 40,251 in SY 2024-25. Over that span, Capistrano Unified closed 1 school, going from 59 to 58.
Within the allk12 community for this area, the community for Capistrano Unified discusses comparison threads between local schools and program reviews. Anyone with firsthand knowledge of these schools is welcome to weigh in.