Bates Elementary

As a tiny elementary campus in Courtland, California, Bates Elementary teaches 82 students from grades K through 6, overseen by River Delta Joint Unified. By comparison, California's public schools average about 465 students each, so Bates Elementary sits 82% smaller than that benchmark.

Across the 11 schools in River Delta Joint Unified (1,705 students total), Bates Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

In terms of who attends, Bates Elementary lists that nearly all students (95%) are Hispanic. The remainder consists of 2% Pacific Islander. The wider county runs roughly 24% Hispanic, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Hispanic than the area baseline.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 4 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 20.5:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting Bates Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 94% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Sacramento County (around 63%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Bates Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 23.6%, the actual is 25.0%, a residual of +1.4 points.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (Sacramento County) records that median household income runs about $92,175, roughly 34% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. Bates Elementary is one of 387 public schools in Sacramento County (combined enrollment of about 259,342 students).

Nearest neighbor: River Delta Community Day, around 0.2 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 2 other public schools cluster around Bates Elementary. Among the 6 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Bates Elementary ranks 4th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 40.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a low-density area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 37%: 131 students in 2018 compared to 82 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share shrank from 8% to 1%. The student-to-teacher ratio grew from 18.7:1 in 2018 to 20.5:1 today.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.