San Diego Unified vs Fairfax County Public Schools
CA · 95,175 students • VA · 179,323 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- San Diego Unified spends 3% more per student than Fairfax County Public Schools after adjusting for local price levels.
- Fairfax County Public Schools directs 2 more cents of every operating dollar to instruction than San Diego Unified.
- Fairfax County Public Schools reports fewer students per teacher (13.3 vs 23.0). 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.
| San Diego Unified | Fairfax County Public Schools | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 95,175 | 179,323 |
| Schools | 175 | 223 |
| Grades served | K–12 | PK–12 |
| Setting | City | Suburb |
| County | San Diego County | Fairfax County |
| State | CA | VA |
| Local price level (US = 100) Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 111.9 | 108.9 |
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.
| San Diego Unified | Fairfax County Public Schools | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $21,280 | $20,064 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $19,020 | $18,427 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $18,588 | $17,484 |
| 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 |
San Diego Unified
Fairfax County Public Schools
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.
San Diego Unified
- Local 61.9% Locked
- State 26.5% Locked
- Federal 11.5% Locked
Fairfax County Public Schools
- Local 68.3% Locked
- State 25.7% Locked
- Federal 6.1% Locked
| San Diego Unified | Fairfax County Public Schools | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 61.9% | 68.3% |
| State share of revenue | 26.5% | 25.7% |
| Federal share of revenue | 11.5% | 6.1% |
| 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 VA funds its districts
Standards of Quality (SOQ) with the Local Composite Index: the state sets a required staffing and programme basket, then splits its cost with the locality by measured local wealth.
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.
San Diego Unified
- Instruction 61.6% Locked
- Instructional staff support 4.9% Locked
- Student support 8.9% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 7.5% Locked
- Transportation 2.3% Locked
- Food service 3.5% Locked
- School administration 6.4% Locked
- District administration 0.7% Locked
- Other support 3.6% Locked
- Other current 3.5% Locked
Fairfax County Public Schools
- Instruction 59.9% Locked
- Instructional staff support 9.0% Locked
- Student support 6.1% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 8.5% Locked
- Transportation 5.1% Locked
- Food service 3.8% Locked
- School administration 5.7% Locked
- District administration 0.7% Locked
- Other support 1.3% Locked
- Other current 3.8% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, San Diego Unified minus Fairfax County Public Schools. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| San Diego Unified | Fairfax County Public Schools | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 66.5% | 68.9% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 7.1% | 6.4% |
| Transportation share | 2.3% | 5.1% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| San Diego Unified | Fairfax County Public Schools | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 23.0 | 13.3 |
| 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.
| San Diego Unified | Fairfax County Public Schools | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 11.7% | 6.1% |
| English learners | 0 | 0 |
| Students with disabilities | 0 | 0 |
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -6.9% | -5.1% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
San Diego Unified
- Declining enrollment Enrollment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrollment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
- High debt burden More than 10% of total spending goes to interest and debt retirement, money that cannot reach a classroom.
Fairfax County Public Schools
- Declining enrollment Enrollment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrollment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
| San Diego Unified | Fairfax County Public Schools | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -6.9% | -5.1% |
| Long-term debt per student | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service share of spending | Locked | Locked |
Enrolling a child
The same checklist for both districts. Every "required" below links to the sentence it came from.
San Diego Unified
Neighborhood Schools and Enrollment Options - San Diego Unified School District
Almost nothing could be read off this page — usually a portal that builds its content in the browser. Treat the column below as "we could not tell", and open the district's page yourself.
Read September 1, 2026.
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
San Diego 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.
Fairfax County Public Schools
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.
- Required the page says so, and the sentence is quoted.
- Mentioned only it comes up, but not as a requirement — often a sentence saying the district cannot demand it.
- Not mentioned we read the page and it was not on it. That is not the same as "not required".
- Page not read we have no enrollment page for this district.
Documents to bring
| San Diego Unified | Fairfax County Public Schools | |
|---|---|---|
| Proof of residency | Not mentioned | Required “Parents registering their children must provide several documents, including proof of residency in Fairfax County, the child's birth certificate, the parent's…” |
| Proof of age (usually a birth certificate) | Not mentioned | Required “Parents registering their children must provide several documents, including proof of residency in Fairfax County, the child's birth certificate, the parent's…” |
| Immunisation records | Not mentioned | Required “Parents registering their children must provide several documents, including proof of residency in Fairfax County, the child's birth certificate, the parent's…” |
| Physical examination | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Dental, vision or hearing screening | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Tuberculosis test | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Records from the previous school | Not mentioned | Required “Families may forward international transcripts to [email protected] to determine if their child is eligible for high school credit testing opportunities at the…” |
| IEP or 504 plan | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Custody or guardianship paperwork | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Parent or guardian photo ID | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Home language survey | Not mentioned | Required “If a language other than or in addition to English is shown on the Home Language Survey, AND your child last attended an international school, register at the…” |
| Emergency contact information | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Proof of income | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Social security number Asked for by some districts. It is not required to enrol, and a school may not refuse a child who does not provide one. We list it because districts ask, not because you must answer. | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
How enrolling works
Locked 11 steps of the enrollment process — deadlines, appointments, proof of residency — are not shown. What to bring is above, and stays free.
- A blank row means the requirement did not appear on the district’s page. It does not mean the district will not ask for it — published lists are routinely incomplete, and the registrar has the final word.
- Requirements change every enrollment season. Check the district’s own page, linked above, before you gather anything.
- A district cannot condition enrollment on your child’s immigration status: under Plyler v. Doe (1982) every child resident in the district is entitled to a free public education. If a district asks for something that would reveal status, you are not obliged to provide it.
- If your family is in temporary or shared housing, the McKinney-Vento Act lets a child enrol immediately without the residency and records documents listed here. Ask for the district’s homeless liaison by name.
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 VA.
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.
San Diego 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.
Fairfax County Public Schools
The county or town levies it, not the district
This school system reports no property tax of its own. It is a dependent system: the county or city levies the tax and appropriates money to the schools. You still pay school property tax — the school board simply is not the body that sets it, and the appropriation is argued out at the county or city council.
| San Diego Unified | Fairfax County Public Schools | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | $15,960 | — |
| 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. | — | $13,827 |
| Property tax as a share of all revenue How much of the budget rides on local property values, and therefore on local votes. | 50.8% | — |
| 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. | $11,630 | $1,035 |
- 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
San Diego Unified board of education
- Sabrina Bazzo — District A
- Shana Hazan — District B
- Cody Petterson — District C
- Richard Barrera — District D
- Sharon Whitehurst-Payne — District E
- Lauren Ly — Board Member
- Ethan Ramirez — Board Member
- Campaigning Guidelines
- Marty Stultz — Director
1 of these is listed on the page without an office. It names them among the board without saying which office they hold, so none is shown for them. It is not a vacancy.
- Members are elected: “Members of the Board of Education are nominated and elected by geographic sub-districts for a term of four years.”
Read from the district’s own board page on 2026-08-24. 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.
Fairfax County Public Schools board of education
- Robyn Lady — Chair
- Kyle McDaniel — Vice Chairman
- Ryan McElveen — Member
- Ilryong Moon — Member
- Members are elected: “The 12 School Board members are elected for four-year terms;”
Read from the district’s own board page on 2026-08-25. 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
San Diego Unified
$13.1B approved by voters across 5 measures.
| Election | Measure | Amount | Yes | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-11-08 | Bond · Prop. Measure UTo improve all public schools by: • Repairing leaky roofs/plumbing; • Providing safe drinking water; • Removing asbestos, lead paint, mold; • Improvin…To improve all public schools by: • Repairing leaky roofs/plumbing; • Providing safe drinking water; • Removing asbestos, lead paint, mold; • Improving classroom security/communications, systems, cameras, door locks to protect against school shootings; • Upgrading career, scie nce, technology, engineering, math classrooms; shall San Diego Unified School District’s measure authorizing $3,200,000,000 in bonds at legal rates, levying approximately 6 cents per $100 of assessed value, averaging $330,000,000 annually while bonds are outstanding, requiring public spending di sclosures, audits, citizens oversight, be adopted? |
$3.2B | 65.3% | Passed |
Locked 4 earlier measures in this district’s history are not shown.
From the state’s own election file. Latest election on record: 2025-06-03.
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.
Fairfax County Public Schools
| Election | Measure | Amount | Yes | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-11-04 | Bond Public School Bonds |
— | 71.0% | No outcome published |
Locked 8 earlier measures in this district’s history are not shown.
9 measures have no outcome in the state’s file.
From the state’s own election file. Latest election on record: 2025-11-04.
What this state publishes: Bond and capital questions put to voters by Virginia counties and cities for their school divisions, back to the earliest the Department of Elections has published. Virginia school divisions cannot tax or borrow, so every question here was asked by the locality and is matched to the division drawn on the same lines. No dollar amount is shown: the source gives a short label rather than the ballot text, and truncates it mid-number often enough that any figure taken from it could be wrong. No pass or fail is shown either — the only outcome column the source publishes is decided per precinct, and in Henrico County in 2013 most precincts voted no while the county voted yes.
- A vote share is not an outcome. What it takes to carry varies by state and by measure — in some states a bond needs a supermajority and a minimum turnout while a levy on the same ballot needs half, so a clear majority can still lose. Every outcome shown here is copied from the state’s own election file, and the rule that applied is stated with the coverage above. Where that file stated no outcome we show whatever count it published and no verdict, rather than working one out from the percentage — and some states publish the ballot question without ever recording a count, so a blank there is a number nobody printed.
- These are the measures a district put to its voters, not its whole tax bill. A property tax bill also carries county, city and state levies that have nothing to do with schools, and in most states a school board can issue some kinds of debt with no vote at all.
The detailed figures for San Diego Unified and Fairfax County Public Schools
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
- the enrollment process — deadlines, appointments and proof of residency
- the full ballot history: 12 more bonds and levies, with the amounts
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San Diego Unified on its own · Fairfax County Public Schools on its own