LAKE COUNTY, 10/11/26 — Lake County schools suspended a larger share of their students in the 2024-25 school year than schools in any other California county.
Of 10,814 students enrolled in Lake County schools during the year, 914 were suspended at least once, or 8.5%, according to a Wine Country Gazette analysis of California Department of Education data. That’s nearly three times the statewide rate of 2.9%.
Mendocino County tied Mariposa County for fourth at 6.5%, more than twice the state rate. Amador County was second at 7.8% and Calaveras County third at 7.5%.
Lake and Mendocino counties also rank near the top of the state for chronic absence, the share of students who missed 10% or more of the days they were expected to attend. Lake was second of 58 counties at 34.9%, behind Inyo County. Mendocino was fourth at 29.1%.
The suspension rate counts each student suspended at least once during the year against every student enrolled at any point in it. County figures include charter schools.
Lake was on top the year before
In 2023-24, Lake tied Modoc County for the highest suspension rate in the state, at 8.8%. Lake’s rate slipped to 8.5% last year while the statewide rate fell from 3.3% to 2.9%.
Most of the 1,558 suspensions in Lake schools last year were for violence. The state counted 834 for a violent incident without injury and 251 for a violent incident with injury. Another 324 were for drugs, 45 for weapons and 37 for defiance alone.
Konocti Unified, the county’s largest district, suspended 13% of its students. That was the second-highest rate among California districts with at least 1,000 students, behind Mojave Unified in Kern County. Lakeport Unified suspended 8.5%.
In Mendocino County, Willits Unified suspended 9.1% of its students, the 11th-highest rate among districts with at least 1,000 students.
Absences rose as the state’s fell
Statewide, chronic absence dropped from 20.4% in 2023-24 to 19.4% in 2024-25. It went the other way in both counties: from 33.7% to 34.9% in Lake and from 28.3% to 29.1% in Mendocino.
At Konocti Unified, 1,914 of 4,227 students were chronically absent last year, or 45.3%, up from 42.2%. That ranked 10th among districts with at least 1,000 students.
Willits Unified’s chronic absence rate rose from 34.5% to 40.2%, 15th among those districts.
Sonoma and Napa counties sat much closer to the state figures. Sonoma suspended 3.5% of its students and Napa 3.9%. Their chronic absence rates were 19.1% and 18.1%, both just under the state’s.