Union Hill Elementary vs Sonora Elementary
CA · 688 students • CA · 643 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- Union Hill Elementary and Sonora Elementary spend within 2% of each other per student once local price levels are accounted for.
- Sonora Elementary directs 3 more cents of every operating dollar to instruction than Union Hill Elementary.
Are these even comparable?
Establish the shape of each district before reading a single dollar figure.
| Union Hill Elementary | Sonora Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 688 | 643 |
| Schools | 2 | 1 |
| Grades served | K–8 | K–8 |
| Setting | Town | Town |
| County | Nevada County | Tuolumne County |
| State | CA | CA |
| Local price level (US = 100) BEA Regional Price Parity. Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 110.7 | 110.7 |
The headline dollar
Current operating spending per student, shown three ways. The first is what each district reports. The second and third are the honest ones for comparison.
| Union Hill Elementary | Sonora Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $15,421 | $15,232 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $13,928 | $13,758 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $13,744 | $13,297 |
| Capital spending per student Buildings and land, reported separately and never folded into the operating figures above. It is lumpy: a district mid-build looks expensive for two years. | Locked | Locked |
Union Hill Elementary
Sonora Elementary
Where the money comes from
The funding mix determines how exposed a district is to local property values, to state politics, and to federal programmes ending.
Union Hill Elementary
- Local 41.2% Locked
- State 52.4% Locked
- Federal 6.4% Locked
Sonora Elementary
- Local 37.4% Locked
- State 48.4% Locked
- Federal 14.2% Locked
| Union Hill Elementary | Sonora Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 41.2% | 37.4% |
| State share of revenue | 52.4% | 48.4% |
| Federal share of revenue | 6.4% | 14.2% |
| Total revenue | Locked | Locked |
How CA funds its districts
LCFF — Local Control Funding Formula: a base grant per pupil plus supplemental and concentration grants driven by low-income, English-learner and foster-youth counts.
How CA funds its districts
LCFF — Local Control Funding Formula: a base grant per pupil plus supplemental and concentration grants driven by low-income, English-learner and foster-youth counts.
Where the money goes
The same slices in the same order for both districts, plus the differences by function — because two pie charts side by side hide exactly the thing you want to see.
Union Hill Elementary
- Instruction 59.2% Locked
- Instructional staff support 0.7% Locked
- Student support 4.7% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 11.4% Locked
- Transportation 1.3% Locked
- Food service 3.6% Locked
- School administration 7.4% Locked
- District administration 3.5% Locked
- Other support 7.5% Locked
- Other current 3.6% Locked
Sonora Elementary
- Instruction 60.9% Locked
- Instructional staff support 1.9% Locked
- Student support 4.5% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 7.7% Locked
- Transportation 3.3% Locked
- Food service 4.4% Locked
- School administration 7.0% Locked
- District administration 2.8% Locked
- Other support 6.7% Locked
- Other current 4.4% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, Union Hill Elementary minus Sonora Elementary. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| Union Hill Elementary | Sonora Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 59.9% | 62.8% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 11.0% | 9.8% |
| Transportation share | 1.3% | 3.3% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| Union Hill Elementary | Sonora Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher This is a staffing ratio: total enrolment divided by teaching staff. It is NOT average class size, which no national source collects. Actual classes are larger than this number in every district. | 20.2 | 20.1 |
| Students per counsellor | Locked | Locked |
| Students per administrator | Locked | Locked |
| Total salaries All staff, not teachers alone. The federal survey does not separate teacher pay. | Locked | Locked |
Who they serve
The answer to "but they serve different kids" — which is usually a fair objection.
| Union Hill Elementary | Sonora Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Child poverty rate Census SAIPE estimate of children aged 5–17 in poverty within the district boundary. Used instead of free-lunch eligibility, which community eligibility has made unusable for comparison. | 17.7% | 16.1% |
| English learners | 0 | 0 |
| Students with disabilities | 0 | 0 |
| Enrolment change, 5 years | -8.0% | -10.9% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
Union Hill Elementary
- Declining enrollment Enrolment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrolment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
Sonora Elementary
- Declining enrollment Enrolment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrolment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
| Union Hill Elementary | Sonora Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrolment change, 5 years | -8.0% | -10.9% |
| Long-term debt per student | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service share of spending | Locked | Locked |
Enrolling a child
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
Union Hill Elementary
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction, and we have read only a fraction of the ones that do. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
Sonora Elementary
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction, and we have read only a fraction of the ones that do. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
- This is the district’s own published wording, not our summary of it. Policies are rewritten between enrolment seasons and a page can be out of date the day after we read it — the school office is the only authority on whether a particular grade at a particular school is full right now.
- A warning here is about capacity, not about your address. It does not mean your child will be moved; it means the district has told you in writing that it may move them.
Comparability notes
- At least one district sits outside a metro area with its own published price index, so its cost adjustment uses the statewide index. That is a coarser adjustment.
What these numbers are, exactly
- Finance: US Census Bureau Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33), fiscal year 2024.
- Enrolment, staffing and directory: NCES Common Core of Data via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal, 2024.
- Child poverty: Census SAIPE school-district estimates, 2024.
- Price levels: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024.
- Districts self-report to the F-33 survey. States differ in what they count as an operating expense, and several pay teacher pensions centrally so that cost never appears in a district’s books. No arithmetic fixes that; we name it instead.
- Property tax basis and borrowing: the same F-33 filing, revenue codes T06 and T02 and the long-term debt schedule (_19H, _21F, _31F, _41F).
Who decides, and what it costs you
Every band above this one asks what a district spends. This one asks who chose to.
Union Hill Elementary
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
Sonora Elementary
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
| Union Hill Elementary | Sonora Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| School property tax levied, per student Only for districts that levy in their own name. Blank where the county or town levies instead — see the cards above, and read the next row. | $5,049 | $5,947 |
| Appropriated by the county or town, per student What the parent government handed the schools, for dependent systems. This is a general appropriation, not solely property tax. | — | — |
| Property tax as a share of all revenue How much of the budget rides on local property values, and therefore on local votes. | 29.2% | 32.2% |
| Long-term debt already owed, per student The balance at the end of the year, for scale. Repaid over decades, so it is a commitment made by earlier boards rather than a bill arriving now. | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service as a share of spending Interest plus principal repaid this year, against total spending. This is the part of the debt that is being paid now, out of money that would otherwise reach a classroom. | Locked | Locked |
| New long-term debt issued, per student Money borrowed during fiscal year 2024, as reported to the federal survey. What this figure does and does not tell you is set out under the table. | $0 | $0 |
- Union Hill Elementary: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- Sonora Elementary: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- A figure in the borrowing row is not a bond voters approved. The federal survey records debt issued, and that includes refinancing existing debt at a new rate — which changes nothing about what a district owes — as well as certificates of participation and lease-revenue debt, which in many states a board can issue with no referendum at all. To find out what was actually on a ballot, check the county election office.
- Debt is repaid over decades. A large balance per student is a commitment made by earlier boards and earlier voters, not a bill arriving this year. The debt service row above it is the part being paid now.
Who sits on the board
Sonora Elementary board of education
- Kathy Francis — Board Member term ends 2026
- Paige Caudle — Board Member term ends 2028
- Tyler Piche — Board Member
- Craig Pedro — Board Member
- Rachel Beckham — Board Member
Read from the district’s own board page on 2026-08-24. Boards change; the district’s page is the current record, not ours.
What this band does not answer yet
Unlock the full comparison of Union Hill Elementary and Sonora Elementary
The verdict, the headline dollar, the funding shares, who is served and every comparability caveat are free above, and stay free. What is behind the lock is the detail you would want before acting on any of it:
- capital spending per student
- total revenue and the funding mix in dollars
- the ten-line per-student breakdown of where the money goes
- counsellor and administrator ratios, and the total salary bill
- the debt behind the risk flags — per student, and as a share of spending
$19 once for this pair, or $7 a month for every district in the country.
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Compare something else
Union Hill Elementary on its own · Sonora Elementary on its own