Bonita Elementary

Bonita Elementary is a primary school of mid-sized scale in Santa Maria, California, run under Santa Maria-Bonita, teacheing 535 students in grades K through 6.

Santa Maria-Bonita comprises 21 schools with combined enrollment of 17,408 students; Bonita Elementary is among them.

On demographics, Bonita Elementary shows that nearly all students (99%) are Hispanic. By comparison, Santa Barbara County as a whole is about 48% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 30 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 18.1:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 98% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is higher than Santa Barbara County's rate of about 68%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Bonita Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 21.3%; this one delivers 13.8%.

Around the school, ACS estimates for Santa Barbara County put median household income runs about $98,161, roughly 37% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Santa Barbara County runs 129 public schools (combined enrollment of about 66,191 students), of which Bonita Elementary is one.

Oakley (Calvin C.) Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 3.3 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Bonita Elementary. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Bonita Elementary ranks 9th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 21.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a small-town area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 6%: 570 students in 2018 compared to 535 in 2025. Class-load math has tightened: from 21.5:1 in 2018 to 18.1:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.