California Elementary

As a low-enrollment elementary campus in Costa Mesa, California, California Elementary teaches 373 students from grades K through 6, run under Newport-Mesa Unified.

Newport-Mesa Unified runs 31 schools in total, collectively educating 17,540 students. California Elementary is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, California Elementary records that 48% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school shows 37% Hispanic, 7% multiracial, 5% Asian.

On the resource side, California Elementary logs 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 17.4:1. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Around 41% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is below Orange County's rate of about 55%.

With demographic context factored in, California Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 54.9%, the actual is 61.2%, a residual of +6.3 points.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Orange County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $116,289 per year, 44% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Orange County runs 649 public schools (combined enrollment of about 430,458 students), of which California Elementary is one.

Nearest neighbor: Charles W. Tewinkle Middle, around 0.1 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around California Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts California Elementary at 3rd of 8; the average score across the group is 52.4%.

The school occupies a downtown site.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at California Elementary has shrank 13%, going from 429 students in 2018 to 373 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 25.2:1 in 2018 to 17.4:1 today.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.