Education

San Diego County School Districts
According to the 2020 Census, San Diego County is home to 42 school districts. Of these, 13 districts are unified, meaning that they include both primary and secondary schools. 23 districts are primary and 6 districts are secondary. The county has 5 community college districts and 129 charter schools. In recent years, concern has risen over San Diego County being divided into a large number of districts, some of which serve a relatively small number of students. Despite calls to consolidate school districts, recent attempts at unifications in the past decade were rejected by district boards and other decision-making stakeholders.

Primary Districts
As of 2022, San Diego County's 23 primary school districts have a combined enrollment of students.

Alpine Union Elementary
Alpine Union Elementary School District consists of 5 elementary schools and learning centers in Alpine, California in east San Diego County. Alpine Union Elementary serves a total of about 1,750 students in grades TK-8.

Cajon Valley Union Elementary
|Cajon Valley Union Elementary School District consists of 28 elementary schools, middle schools, and learning academies in Ej Cajon and Rancho San Diego.

Cardiff Elementary
|Cardiff Elementary School District consists of 2 schools in Encinitas, California in north San Diego County. The district serves students in grades K-6.

Chula Vista Elementary
|Chula Vista Elementary School District consists of 49 elementary schools and charter middle and high schools across Chula Vista, Bonita, Sunnyside, and South San Diego. The district serves students in grades TK-12.

Dehesa Elementary
|Dehesa Dehesa School District consists of a single school in El Cajon, east San Diego County, serving students in grades TK-8.

Del Mar Union Elementary
Del Mar Union School District consists of 11 schools in Del Mar and San Diego, serving students in grades TK-6. In May 2022, Del Mar Union was involved in a lawsuit against local nonprofit Save the Field, which accused the City of San Diego of violating the California Environmental Quality Act to rebuild the Del Mar Heights School. In June 2022, a San Diego County Superior Court judge halted construction after identifying environmental flaws in the school district's plans. The project began in 2019, with the school district hoping to complete the rebuild for the 2020-21 school year, however, legal proceedings initiated by Save the Field have caused the projected completion date to move to May 2023. For the duration of the rebuilding process, Del Mar Heights students were relocated to Del Mar Hills and Ocean Air School, causing parent groups and Del Mar Union spokespeople to argue against further delays.

Encinitas Union Elementary
Encinitas Union School District consists of 9 schools in Encinitas and the Rancho La Costa area in North San Diego County, serving approximately 5,400 students in grades K-6.

Vallecitos Elementary
 

Sweetwater Union High
 

SBC - High Tech High
High Tech High (HTH) is an integrated system of 16 charter schools in Chula Vista, Claremont Mesa, North County, and Point Loma. HTH serves about 6,350 students from grades K-12.

San Diego County Office of Education
The San Diego County of Education was founded in 1948 to provide business, curricular, and other support to all school districts, community college districts, and charter schools in San Diego County.

2020 Pandemic Shutdowns
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, San Diego County school districts experienced shutdowns in the spring of 2020 and the following 2020-21 school year.