Tuolumne County Education: 5,338 students were enrolled in 2023-24 school year

There were 5,338 students enrolled in Tuolumne County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 1.4% less than the previous year, according to the California Department of Education.

Of all the students welcomed at the time, 50.4% identified as male, 49.4% as female, and 0.2% identified themselves as non-binary or did not specify their gender.

Data also showed that white students made up 68.1% of the student body, the largest percentage in the county, followed by Hispanic or Latino students at 20.3% (1,082 students), multiracial students at 5.6% (298 students) and American Indian or Alaska Native students at 2.5% (133 students).

Sonora High School had the highest enrollment among Tuolumne County’s 168 schools in the 2023-24 academic year, welcoming 960 students.

After peaking at 6.3 million in the early 2000s, public school enrollment in California has marked its seventh consecutive decline in the 2023-24 school year, with projections indicating it could fall to approximately 5.2 million by the 2033-34 school year. This trend is attributed to lower birth rates, slowed immigration, and families relocating out of state due to high housing costs. Rural and coastal districts have been particularly affected, facing tough decisions such as school closures and staffing reductions.

Although chronic absenteeism in California decreased in 2023, it remains double the pre-pandemic rate. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, chronic absenteeism in the state public schools reached 25% in 2023, up from 12% in 2019.