Did You Know?
* A Cal Lutheran University telephone survey in 1995 showed that 70% of Thousand Oaks residents would “advise families like mine to move to the Conejo Valley because of the quality of the schools.”
* Ventura County’s student population is growing more diverse, non-English speaking and poor. As student populations climbed 15% over the past decade to 124,253, the portion of minority students jumped 48%, the portion with limited English skills rose 150% and the number on welfare increased by 41%.
* Taxpayers paid $449 million to Ventura County’s public school employees in 1996. County schools have 4,847 full-time teachers, 389 administrators and 6,611 full- and part-time support staff.
* Ventura County SAT scores--both in math and verbal portions of the test--are higher than state or national averages. Scores in 1996 averaged 514 verbal and 528 math, compared with 495 and 511 in California and 505 and 508 nationally. Total scores also are increasing at a faster rate: by 23% over the last five years in the county, compared with 6% in California and 12% nationally.
* Ten of 18 general-obligation school bonds requiring a two-thirds vote have passed in Ventura County over the last decade. Last year, six of eight were approved.
Sources: California Department of Education, Ventura County Superintendent of Schools
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