Orange County Education: Which school had most students enrolled in 2023-24 school year?

Fountain Valley High School had the highest enrollment among Orange County schools, welcoming 3,130 students during the 2023-24 school year, according to the California Department of Education.

Of all the students welcomed in the 2023-24 school year, 51.5% were boys, 48.4% were girls, and 0.1% identified themselves as non-binary or did not specify their gender.

Data also showed that the majority of students were Asian, making up 55.1% of the total enrollment in Fountain Valley High School.

Among the 587 schools in Orange County, Los Alamitos High School ranked second in enrollment numbers with 3,005 students, while Santa Ana High School welcomed 2,853 students and ranked third in the 2023-24 school year.

Fountain Valley High School is part of Huntington Beach Union High School District, which roughly covers schools within Orange County and has a main office in Huntington Beach.

In the previous school year, Fountain Valley High School also had the largest number of students among Orange County schools.

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.

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.