Death Valley Unified vs North River School District
CA · 21 students • WA · 54 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- Death Valley Unified spends 132% more per student than North River School District after adjusting for local price levels.
- North River School District directs 18 more cents of every operating dollar to instruction than Death Valley Unified.
- Death Valley Unified is far more dependent on local property taxes (60% of revenue vs 2%), which ties its budget more tightly to local property values.
- Death Valley Unified reports fewer students per teacher (7.0 vs 9.0). This is a staffing ratio, not an average class size.
Are these even comparable?
Establish the shape of each district before reading a single dollar figure.
| Death Valley Unified | North River School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 21 | 54 |
| Schools | 4 | 1 |
| Grades served | K–12 | PK–12 |
| Setting | Rural | Rural |
| County | Inyo County | Pacific County |
| State | CA | WA |
| Local price level (US = 100) Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 110.7 | 107.0 |
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.
| Death Valley Unified | North River School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $98,941 | $41,213 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $89,362 | $38,512 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $79,374 | $35,219 |
| Capital spending per student Buildings and land, never folded into the operating figures above. It is lumpy: a district mid-build looks expensive for two years. | Locked | Locked |
Death Valley Unified
North River School District
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.
Death Valley Unified
- Local 59.6% Locked
- State 29.1% Locked
- Federal 11.3% Locked
North River School District
- Local 2.2% Locked
- State 92.5% Locked
- Federal 5.3% Locked
| Death Valley Unified | North River School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 59.6% | 2.2% |
| State share of revenue | 29.1% | 92.5% |
| Federal share of revenue | 11.3% | 5.3% |
| 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 WA funds its districts
Prototypical school funding model: the state funds staffing ratios for a model school, with levies limited on top.
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.
Death Valley Unified
- Instruction 35.4% Locked
- Instructional staff support 0.6% Locked
- Student support 4.6% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 15.9% Locked
- Transportation 11.2% Locked
- Food service 4.8% Locked
- School administration 11.6% Locked
- District administration 7.6% Locked
- Other support 7.0% Locked
- Other current 5.1% Locked
North River School District
- Instruction 51.8% Locked
- Instructional staff support 1.8% Locked
- Student support 2.0% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 12.3% Locked
- Transportation 8.6% Locked
- Food service 5.6% Locked
- School administration 2.7% Locked
- District administration 9.0% Locked
- Other support 5.7% Locked
- Other current 6.1% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, Death Valley Unified minus North River School District. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| Death Valley Unified | North River School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 36.0% | 53.6% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 19.1% | 11.8% |
| Transportation share | 11.2% | 8.6% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| Death Valley Unified | North River School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher This is a staffing ratio: total enrollment divided by teaching staff. It is NOT average class size. Actual classes are larger than this number in every district. | 7.0 | 9.0 |
| Students per counselor | Locked | Locked |
| Students per administrator | Locked | Locked |
| Total salaries All staff, not teachers alone. | Locked | Locked |
Who they serve
The answer to "but they serve different kids" — which is usually a fair objection.
| Death Valley Unified | North River School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Child poverty rate Children aged 5 to 17 in poverty within the district boundary. Used instead of free-lunch eligibility, which community eligibility has made unusable for comparison. | 18.2% | 16.0% |
| English learners | 0 | 0 |
| Students with disabilities | 0 | 0 |
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -12.5% | -22.9% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
Death Valley Unified
- Declining enrollment Enrollment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrollment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
- Low share reaching classrooms Under 55% of current spending reaches instruction and instructional support, low against national practice.
North River School District
- Declining enrollment Enrollment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrollment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
- Low share reaching classrooms Under 55% of current spending reaches instruction and instructional support, low against national practice.
| Death Valley Unified | North River School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -12.5% | -22.9% |
| 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?
Death Valley Unified
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. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
North River School District
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. 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 enrollment 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
- Cross-state comparison. Dollars below are shown both as reported and adjusted to a common price level, because a dollar buys different amounts of teacher in CA and WA.
- 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
Who decides, and what it costs you
Every band above this one asks what a district spends. This one asks who chose to.
Death Valley Unified
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.
North River School District
Local money, but not a school property tax
This district reports local revenue that is neither a property tax of its own nor a county appropriation, and the source is not named. Two thirds of the districts in this position are New England regional districts, where each member town raises its share — but the rest span Alaska, Arizona and Tennessee, whose arrangements are nothing like that and nothing like each other. What is certain is only that local money reaches these schools by some route the school board does not levy itself.
| Death Valley Unified | North River School District | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | $61,941 | — |
| 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. | 49.5% | — |
| 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. What this figure does and does not tell you is set out under the table. | $0 | $0 |
- Death Valley Unified: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- North River School District: 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. It 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
North River School District board of education
- Lorenzo Churape — Board Chair
- Michelle Farnell — Vice Chairman
- Kathi Schlesser — Director
Read from the district’s own board page on 2026-09-01. Boards change; the district’s page is the current record, not ours.
These seats are elected, and what this board decides — the budget, the attendance boundaries, the calendar — is decided at a meeting the public may attend. The district’s own board page, linked above, is where it publishes the schedule and the agenda. We do not hold meeting dates or contact details for these people.
Funding measures on the ballot
Death Valley Unified
We hold every school funding measure the state of CA published for 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and this district appears in none of them.
What this state publishes: School district bonds and parcel taxes as the California Elections Data Archive compiles them for the Secretary of State. Bonds carry the principal; parcel taxes are quoted per parcel and carry no comparable dollar figure. Recalls and advisory questions are not included.
CA published no results for 2010, so a measure put to voters in that year would not appear here. That is a gap in the state’s own publishing.
North River School District
We hold every school funding measure the state of WA published for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024, 2025 and 2026, and this district appears in none of them.
What this state publishes: Bonds, capital levies and enrichment levies, as OSPI reports them. Washington bonds need 60% yes and a validation turnout; levies on the same ballot need 50%.
WA published no results for 2022 and 2023, so a measure put to voters in those years would not appear here. That is a gap in the state’s own publishing.
The detailed figures for Death Valley Unified and North River School District
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 total current spending, and the funding mix in dollars (the percentage shares stay free)
- the ten-line per-student breakdown of where the money goes
- counselor and administrator ratios, and the total salary bill
- the debt behind the risk flags — per student, and as a share of spending
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Compare something else
Death Valley Unified on its own · North River School District on its own