Colonel Howard Nichols Elementary

Colonel Howard Nichols Elementary is one of the big elementary campuss in Bakersfield, California, part of Bakersfield City, with 960 students on its rolls from grades K through 6. Enrollment runs roughly 106% larger than the state mean of about 465.

Bakersfield City runs 44 schools in total, collectively educating 28,365 students. Colonel Howard Nichols Elementary is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Colonel Howard Nichols Elementary shows that nearly all students (84%) are Hispanic; the rest reads as 10% White, 4% Black. That is noticeably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 57%.

On the resource side, Colonel Howard Nichols Elementary records 41 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 23.5:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. An estimated 84% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is above Kern County's rate of about 76%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Colonel Howard Nichols Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 29.4% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 30.8%.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Kern County) shows that median household earnings sit near $70,210, roughly 19% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 15%. Across Kern County's 279 public schools (combined enrollment of about 197,431 students), Colonel Howard Nichols Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Harding Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.8 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Colonel Howard Nichols Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Colonel Howard Nichols Elementary at 3rd of 9; the average score across the group is 21.7%.

The campus sits in a metropolitan setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked up 13%: 851 students in 2018 compared to 960 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 73% to 84% across the same window.

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