Butte Valley Elementary

Butte Valley Elementary is a tight-knit elementary-level community in Dorris, California, overseen by Butte Valley Unified. The school caters to 219 students in grades K through 8. Compared to the state average of about 465 students per school, that is 53% below typical.

Butte Valley Elementary is one of 2 schools operated by Butte Valley Unified, a district that caters to 313 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Butte Valley Elementary records that 59% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. Other groups include 35% White, 4% Asian. That is considerably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 14%.

On the resource side, Butte Valley Elementary reports 8 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 28.0:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. Roughly 87% of students at Butte Valley Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Siskiyou County (around 65%), the school's rate is north of typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Butte Valley Elementary falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 27.8%; this one comes in at 11.9%, -15.9 points off the demographic line.

Across the wider county, census data for Siskiyou County shows median household income runs about $59,095, roughly 23% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. Butte Valley Elementary is one of 52 public schools in Siskiyou County (combined enrollment of about 6,059 students).

Butte Valley High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Butte Valley Elementary ranks 8th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 32.7%.

Butte Valley Elementary operates from a countryside location.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count showed little movement: 217 students in 2018 compared to 219 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share rose from 49% to 59%. Class-load math has loosened: from 25.5:1 in 2018 to 28.0:1 in 2025.

On the community side, members of the Butte Valley Elementary community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.