Alturas Elementary

Alturas Elementary, an intimate elementary school in Alturas, California, overseen by Modoc Joint Unified, serves 333 students, covering grades K through 5. That puts it 28% below the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

Within Modoc Joint Unified, which oversees 5 schools and 766 students, Alturas Elementary is one campus in the system.

In terms of who attends, Alturas Elementary lists that 62% of the student body identifies as White. Other groups include 23% Hispanic, 9% multiracial, 6% Native American. By comparison, Modoc County as a whole is about 79% White, so the school skews visibly less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, The school lists 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 16.6:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. An estimated 73% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

After controlling for student poverty, Alturas Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 36.0% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 28.2%.

In the broader community, census data for Modoc County shows median household earnings sit near $59,455, roughly 25% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Modoc County runs 10 public schools (combined enrollment of about 855 students), of which Alturas Elementary is one.

Modoc Middle is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. 4 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Alturas Elementary at 1st of 5; the average score across the group is 22.5%.

The school occupies a rural site.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Alturas Elementary has decreased 18%, going from 405 students in 2018 to 333 in 2025. The White share of enrollment declined from 72% to 62% over that span. Class-load math has pulled in: from 17.8:1 in 2018 to 16.6:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the Alturas Elementary community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.