Red Bluff Joint Union High

Red Bluff Joint Union High has two public high schools serving grades 9–12: Red Bluff High (1,586 students) and Salisbury High (Continuation) (104 students). Their reported results show a sharp difference between the schools: in 2025–26, Red Bluff had stronger test results and better graduation, dropout and attendance outcomes. The most important finding is that this small area-wide picture is split, with Salisbury’s outcomes far below Red Bluff’s.

Red Bluff High leads the pair, though it is not above the state in any reported 2025–26 all-grades test subject. Its scores were 48% in ELA, 20% in math and 30% in science, versus 3%, 0% and 0% at Salisbury High (Continuation). Red Bluff was close to the state in ELA (1 point below), but 19 points below in math and 6 below in science. It also had a 96% graduation rate, compared with Salisbury’s 75%; dropout rates were 3% and 19%, and chronic absenteeism was 16% and 87%, respectively. SchoolDigger ranks Red Bluff at the 46th percentile with 2 stars, while Salisbury is at the 1st percentile with 0 stars.

Results weakened from 2024–25 to 2025–26 in most school-and-subject comparisons, while state scores rose in all three subjects. Red Bluff’s ELA fell from 55% to 48% and math from 25% to 20%, while science was essentially unchanged at 30%; Salisbury’s scores fell from 14% to 3% in ELA, 2% to 0% in math and 5% to 0% in science. Red Bluff’s SchoolDigger percentile also declined from 58 to 46; Salisbury’s fell from 5 to 1. As context for comparing the schools, in 2024–25 Red Bluff’s student-teacher ratio was 19 and spending was $27,406 per student, versus 12.2 and $41,070 at Salisbury. Free/reduced lunch eligible shares that year were 76% at Red Bluff and 87% at Salisbury; California’s data indicate all students receive free school meals. These figures describe the schools but do not explain their outcomes.