Arellanes (Don Juan Bautista) Elementary

Located at 1890 Sandalwood Dr., in Santa Maria, California, Arellanes (Don Juan Bautista) Elementary is a tight-knit elementary campus that instructs 298 students (grades K through 6), one of the schools within Santa Maria-Bonita. That puts it 36% smaller than the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

Across the 21 schools in Santa Maria-Bonita (17,408 students total), Arellanes (Don Juan Bautista) Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, Arellanes (Don Juan Bautista) Elementary shows that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (98%). Beyond that, the school shows 2% White. That is meaningfully more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 48%.

On the resource side, On paper, Arellanes (Don Juan Bautista) Elementary has 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 17.1:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting Arellanes (Don Juan Bautista) Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 95% of students at Arellanes (Don Juan Bautista) Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Santa Barbara County (around 68%), the school's rate is north of typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Arellanes (Don Juan Bautista) Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 22.7%, the actual is 28.6%, a residual of +5.8 points.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Santa Barbara County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $98,161 per year, 37% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. In all, Santa Barbara County runs 129 public schools (combined enrollment of about 66,191 students), of which Arellanes (Don Juan Bautista) Elementary is one.

The closest other public school is Arellanes Junior High, roughly 0.0 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Arellanes (Don Juan Bautista) Elementary at 7th of 9; the average score across the group is 35.4%.

The campus sits in an outer-ring setting.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Arellanes (Don Juan Bautista) Elementary has decreased 5%, going from 313 students in 2018 to 298 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 18.3:1 in 2018 to 17.1:1 today.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.