Big Springs Elementary

Big Springs Elementary is an elementary-level community of very small scale in Montague, California, one of the schools within Big Springs Union Elementary, educateing 151 students in grades K through 8. That puts it 68% smaller than the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

Big Springs Elementary sits inside Big Springs Union Elementary, the local public-school operator responsible for the campus.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Big Springs Elementary logs that 44% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Other groups include 28% Asian, 13% Hispanic, 13% multiracial. That is visibly less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 78%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Big Springs Elementary shows 5 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 28.0:1. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. About 60% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Big Springs Elementary is in the bottom 10% of California public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 43.6%; Big Springs Elementary posts 14.8%, -28.8 points below that line.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Siskiyou County) shows that the typical household earns roughly $59,095 per year, about 23% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Big Springs Elementary is one of 52 public schools in Siskiyou County (combined enrollment of about 6,059 students).

Little Shasta Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 6.1 miles from this campus. Within ten miles, there are 5 other public schools, a sparser pattern than typical urban areas. Among the 5 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Big Springs Elementary ranks 5th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 34.6%.

The school occupies an outlying site.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Big Springs Elementary has decreased 16%, going from 179 students in 2018 to 151 in 2025. Over the same period, the Asian share expanded from 7% to 28%. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 22.4:1 in 2018 to 28.0:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the feed for Big Springs Elementary typically covers classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.