Betty Plasencia Elementary

Located at 1321 Cortez St., in Los Angeles, California, Betty Plasencia Elementary is an average-sized K-5 school that works with 411 students (grades K through 5), part of Los Angeles Unified.

Los Angeles Unified runs 784 schools in total, collectively educating 406,887 students. Betty Plasencia Elementary is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Betty Plasencia Elementary reports that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (88%). The remainder reads as 4% White, 3% Black, 3% Asian. By comparison, Los Angeles County as a whole is about 48% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 20.1:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 95% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is noticeably above Los Angeles County's rate of about 70%.

With demographic context factored in, Betty Plasencia Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 22.8%; this one delivers 31.5%.

Around the school, Los Angeles County reports that median household income runs about $90,112, 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. Across Los Angeles County's 2244 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,265,907 students), Betty Plasencia Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Harold McAlister High (Opportunity) is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Betty Plasencia Elementary. Among the 4 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Betty Plasencia Elementary ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, higher than the local average of 23.6%.

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

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Betty Plasencia Elementary has fell 33%, going from 617 students in 2018 to 411 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.