Christa McAuliffe Elementary

Located at 8900 Westwold Dr., in Bakersfield, California, Christa McAuliffe Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school that works with 524 students (grades K through 6), operated by Panama-Buena Vista Union.

Panama-Buena Vista Union comprises 25 schools with combined enrollment of 19,366 students; Christa McAuliffe Elementary is among them.

Looking at the student body, Christa McAuliffe Elementary logs that 57% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. The remainder is composed of 20% White, 8% Black, 8% multiracial, 6% Asian. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Christa McAuliffe Elementary has 25 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 21.4:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting Christa McAuliffe Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 78% of students at Christa McAuliffe Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Christa McAuliffe Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 33.1%; this one delivers 35.1%.

In the broader community, census data for Kern County shows median household earnings sit near $70,210, roughly 19% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 15%. In all, Kern County runs 279 public schools (combined enrollment of about 197,431 students), of which Christa McAuliffe Elementary is one.

The closest other public school is Leo B. Hart Elementary, roughly 0.4 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Christa McAuliffe Elementary at 7th of 9; the average score across the group is 45.0%.

The campus sits in a downtown setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 3%: 540 students in 2018 compared to 524 in 2025. The White share of enrollment shrank from 25% to 20% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 24.0:1 in 2018 to 21.4:1 today.

On this page, members of the Christa McAuliffe Elementary community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.