Cielo Vista Charter

Cielo Vista Charter is a well-populated elementary campus in Palm Springs, California, run under Palm Springs Unified. The school teaches 824 students in grades K through 8. That puts it 77% above the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

Across the 27 schools in Palm Springs Unified (20,007 students total), Cielo Vista Charter accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Cielo Vista Charter lists that 82% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. Beyond that, the school shows 8% White, 5% Asian, 3% multiracial. By comparison, Riverside County as a whole is about 51% Hispanic, so the school skews visibly more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Cielo Vista Charter has 41 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 20.2:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. Around 93% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Riverside County (around 74%), the school's rate is somewhat above typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Cielo Vista Charter ranks in the top 10% of California public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 24.3%; Cielo Vista Charter posts 48.5%, +24.2 points above that line.

In the area at large, the surrounding county (Riverside County) records that median household income runs about $93,074, roughly 26% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. In all, Riverside County runs 543 public schools (combined enrollment of about 424,872 students), of which Cielo Vista Charter is one.

Nearest neighbor: Agua Caliente Elementary, around 1.0 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Cielo Vista Charter at 1st of 7; the average score across the group is 34.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a bedroom-community area. As a public charter, Cielo Vista Charter runs on public funding but with greater curricular and operational autonomy than a typical district school.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 13%: 947 students in 2018 compared to 824 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 15% to 8% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 24.3:1 in 2018 to 20.2:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.