The Santa Barbara Unified School District (Spanish: Distrito Escolar Unificado de Santa Bárbara)^[5] is the main public school district that serves Santa Barbara and Goleta, California. On January 12, 2011, the board of education unanimously approved a resolution to reorganize the Santa Barbara Elementary and Secondary School Districts into a single unified school district. The changeover began July 1, 2011.^[6]

Because the state provides a fiscal incentive for school district that unify, unification will result in $6 million of ongoing revenue the Santa Barbara Unified School District.

First attempts at creating public schools began in Santa Barbara after the founding of the Presidio in the 1790s, with mixed success. But as Robert Christian wrote in his thesis on the history of the district, "...on June 6, 1866, the Santa Barbara School District was formed. The schools were no longer administered by the County Superintendent, but in complete control of the electorate of the city. In 1866, Alpheus B. Thompson, County Superintendent reported that there were three school districts in the County: San Buenaventura, Montecito, and Santa Barbara. The census showed that there were 1,243 children between the ages of five and fifteen residing in the County, with only 325 pupils enrolled in schools, plus forty-one enrolled in private schools. Each district had two schools, with the length of the school year varying from three to five months. The teachers’ salaries varied from $30 to $50 per month, with the Santa Barbara district paying a total of $1,165.25."^[7]