Program Information Established in 1885 with fewer than a dozen students meeting in a borrowed tent, LBUSD now educates 65,500 students in 84 public schools located in the cities of Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill, and Avalon on Catalina Island. With a team of more than 12,000 full-time and part-time employees, the school district is the largest employer in Long Beach. The fourth largest school district in California, LBUSD serves one of the most diverse large cities in the United States, and dozens of languages are spoken by local students.